Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience最新文献

{"title":"Sensing the Environment With Whiskers","authors":"M. Evans, M. Loft, Dario Campagner, R. Petersen","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.226","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.226","url":null,"abstract":"Whiskers (vibrissae) are prominent on the snout of many mammals, both terrestrial and aquatic. The defining feature of whiskers is that they are rooted in large follicles with dense sensory innervation, surrounded by doughnut-shaped blood sinuses. Some species, including rats and mice, have elaborate muscular control of their whiskers and explore their environment by making rhythmic back-and-forth “whisking” movements. Whisking movements are purposefully modulated according to specific behavioral goals (“active sensing”). The basic whisking rhythm is controlled by a premotor complex in the intermediate reticular formation.\u0000 Primary whisker neurons (PWNs), with cell bodies in the trigeminal ganglion, innervate several classes of mechanoreceptive nerve endings in the whisker follicle. Mechanotransduction involving Piezo2 ion channels establishes the fundamental physical signals that the whiskers communicate to the brain. PWN spikes are triggered by mechanical forces associated with both the whisking motion itself and whisker-object contact. Whisking is associated with inertial and muscle contraction forces that drive PWN activity. Whisker-object contact causes whiskers to bend, and PWN activity is driven primarily by the associated rotatory force (“bending moment”).\u0000 Sensory signals from the PWNs are routed to many parts of the hindbrain, midbrain, and forebrain. Parallel ascending pathways transmit information about whisker forces to sensorimotor cortex. At each brainstem, thalamic, and cortical level of these pathways, there are one or more maps of the whisker array, consisting of cell clusters (“barrels” in the primary somatosensory cortex) whose spatial arrangement precisely mirrors that of the whiskers on the snout. However, the overall architecture of the whisker-responsive regions of the brain system is best characterized by multilevel sensory-motor feedback loops. Its intriguing biology, in combination with advantageous properties as a model sensory system, has made the whisker system the platform for seminal insights into brain function.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"45 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131433390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neural Control of Lower Urinary Tract Function","authors":"J. Beckel, W. C. Groat","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.270","url":null,"abstract":"Functions of the lower urinary tract to store and periodically eliminate urine are regulated by a complex neural control system in the brain and lumbosacral spinal cord that coordinates the activity of smooth and striated muscles of the bladder and urethral outlet via a combination of voluntary and reflex mechanisms. Many neural circuits controlling the lower urinary tract exhibit switch-like patterns of activity that turn on and off in an all-or-none manner. During urine storage, spinal sympathetic and somatic reflexes are active to maintain a quiescent bladder and a closed outlet. During micturition, these spinal storage reflexes are suppressed by input from the brain, while parasympathetic pathways in the brain are activated to produce a bladder contraction and relaxation of the urethra. The major component of the micturition switching circuit is a spinobulbospinal parasympathetic pathway that consists of essential relay circuitry in the periaqueductal gray and pontine micturition center. These circuits in the rostral brain stem are, in turn, regulated by inputs from the forebrain that mediate voluntary control of micturition. Thus neural control of micturition is organized as a hierarchical system in which spinal storage reflexes and supraspinal voiding reflexes are regulated voluntarily by higher centers in the brain. In young children the voluntary mechanisms are undeveloped and voiding is purely reflex. Voluntary control emerges during maturation of the nervous system and depends on learned behavior. Diseases or injuries of the nervous system in adults cause re-emergence of involuntary micturition, leading to urinary incontinence.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121428310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Brain-Derived Steroids and Behaviors","authors":"C. Saldanha","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.261","url":null,"abstract":"Since the early 1980s, evidence suggesting that the vertebrate brain is a rich source of steroid hormones has been decisive and extensive. This evidence includes data from many vertebrate species and describes almost every enzyme necessary for the conversion of cholesterol to androgens and estrogens. In contrast, the behavioral relevance of neurosteroidogenesis is more equivocal and mysterious. Nonetheless, the presence of a limited number of steroidogenic enzymes in the brain of a few species has clearly been linked to reliable behavioral phenotype.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"206 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121543754","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Stereopsis and Depth Perception","authors":"A. Parker","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.77","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.77","url":null,"abstract":"Humans and some animals can use their two eyes in cooperation to detect and discriminate parts of the visual scene based on depth. Owing to the horizontal separation of the eyes, each eye obtains a slightly different view of the scene in front of the head. These small differences are processed by the nervous system to generate a sense of binocular depth. As humans, we experience an impression of solidity that is fully three-dimensional; this impression is called stereopsis and is what we appreciate when we watch a 3D movie or look into a stereoscopic viewer. While the basic perceptual phenomena of stereoscopic vision have been known for some time, it is mainly within the last 50 years that we have gained an understanding of how the nervous system delivers this sense of depth. This period of research began with the identification of neuronal signals for binocular depth in the primary visual cortex. Building on that finding, subsequent work has traced the signaling pathways for binocular stereoscopic depth forward into extrastriate cortex and further on into cortical areas concerning with sensorimotor integration. Within these pathways, neurons acquire sensitivity to more complex, higher order aspects of stereoscopic depth. Signals relating to the relative depth of visual features can be identified in the extrastriate cortex, which is a form of selectivity not found in the primary visual cortex. Over the same time period, knowledge of the organization of binocular vision in animals that inhabit a wide diversity of ecological niches has substantially increased. The implications of these findings for developmental and adult plasticity of the visual nervous system and onset of the clinical condition of amblyopia are explored in this article. Amblyopic vision is associated with a cluster of different visual and oculomotor symptoms, but the loss of high-quality stereoscopic depth performance is one of the consistent clinical features. Understanding where and how those losses occur in the visual brain is an important goal of current research, for both scientific and clinical reasons.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"236 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116142103","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Autonomic Regulation of Penile Erection","authors":"K. Andersson","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.272","url":null,"abstract":"Penile erection is a part of the human male sexual response, involving desire, excitation (erection), orgasm (ejaculation), and resolution, and autonomic nerves are involved in all phases. Autonomic innervation of smooth-muscle cells of the erectile tissue is provided by the cavernous nerve. Motor and sensory innervation is derived from the pudendal nerves and their terminal branches, that is, the dorsal nerves of the penis, which carry impulses from receptors harbored in the penile skin, prepuce, and glans. Erection begins with an increased flow in the pudendal arteries and dilatation of the cavernous arteries and helicine arterioles in association with relaxation of the smooth muscles of the trabecular network, causing engorgement of blood in the corpora. This leads to compression of subtunical venules by the resistant tunica albuginea and erection. During detumescence these events are reversed.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128208142","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Transcriptomic Architecture of Reproductive Plasticity","authors":"S. Renn, N. Aubin‐Horth","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.262","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.262","url":null,"abstract":"Several species show diversity in reproductive patterns that result from phenotypic plasticity. This reproductive plasticity is found for example in mate choice, parental care, reproduction suppression, reproductive tactics, sex role, and sex reversal. Studying the genome-wide changes in transcription that are associated with these plastic phenotypes will help answer several questions, including those regarding which genes are expressed and where they are expressed when an individual is faced with a reproductive choice, as well as those regarding whether males and females have the same brain genomic signature when they express the same behaviors, or if they activate sex-specific molecular pathways to output similar behavioral responses. The comparative approach of studying transcription in a wide array of species allows us to uncover genes, pathways, and biological functions that are repeatedly co-opted (“genetic toolkit”) as well as those that are unique to a particular system (“genomic signature”). Additionally, by quantifying the transcriptome, a labile trait, using time series has the potential to uncover the causes and consequences of expressing one plastic phenotype or another. There are of course gaps in our knowledge of reproductive plasticity, but no shortage of possibilities for future directions.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129580697","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neurobiology of Anabolic-Androgenic Steroid Abuse","authors":"R. Wood, Kathryn G. Wallin-Miller","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.260","url":null,"abstract":"Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are both performance-enhancing substances and drugs of abuse. Although AAS are banned in competitive sports, they are widely used by both elite and rank-and-file athletes. All AAS are derived from testosterone, the principle endogenous androgen produced by the testes of adult men. While AAS increase muscular strength and athletic performance, they also have serious consequences for health and behavior. AAS are implicated in maladaptive behavioral and cognitive changes such as increased risk-taking and altered decision-making. However, effects of AAS on cognition are not well understood. Studies of human AAS users are limited by an inability to control for pre-existing psychopathology and behavioral differences. Furthermore, in order to understand AAS effects on behavior, it is important to discover how AAS impact the brain. Animal models of AAS abuse parallel human studies to uncover effects on cognition, decision-making, and underlying neurobiological mechanisms. In operant discounting tests, rats treated with chronic high-dose testosterone are less sensitive to effort, punishment, and delay but are more sensitive to uncertainty. Likewise, they demonstrate impaired cognitive flexibility when tested for set-shifting and reversal learning. It appears that AAS induce many of these cognitive changes via effects on the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system, particularly through the dopamine D1- and D2-like receptors in subnuclei of the nucleus accumbens. AAS also have rewarding effects mediated by similar neural circuits. In preclinical studies, animals will voluntarily self-administer AAS. Human users may develop dependence. These findings highlight the vulnerability of brain circuits controlling cognition and reward to androgens at high doses.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"16 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130619233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Neuroendocrine Mechanisms of Psychological Stress: Age and Sex Differences in Adults","authors":"A. Gaffey, Brandy S Martinez","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.280","url":null,"abstract":"There are two main branches of the human stress response. The autonomic nervous system acts rapidly and is often referred to as our fight or flight response. The slow-acting arm of the stress response refers to the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, which triggers a hormone cascade resulting in the release of various hormones including cortisol. Healthy functioning of the HPA axis is tightly regulated by negative feedback, the endogenous self-regulatory mechanism of the system that terminates cortisol production. Alterations in HPA axis functioning are characterized by both hypo- and hypersecretion of cortisol in response to psychological stress and are typically associated with negative physical health outcomes as well as clinical pathology. What remains poorly understood is how HPA activity changes with age and the pathways through which these changes occur.\u0000 In addition to changes associated with the normative aging process, age-related changes in cortisol may also be driven by the cumulative effects of stress experienced across the life span (e.g., traumatic stress); stressors unique to later life (e.g., caring for an ailing loved one); or health problems. Although research examining how the HPA axis might change with age is inconsistent, there appears to be reasonable evidence to suggest that: (1) both stress-induced and diurnal cortisol output may increase with age, potentially beginning with changes in the cortisol awakening response, (2) variability in cortisol production increases with age, (3) diurnal (i.e., daily) cortisol rhythms are preserved in later life, and (4) age-related differences in cortisol may be more distinct in men than in women. However, it remains unknown whether these changes in older adults’ physiology reflect maladaptive functioning of the HPA axis or interact with other health concerns to negatively affect overall psychophysiological health. Further research is needed to disentangle the interplay between aging and HPA axis functioning to better understand what alterations are associated with the normative aging process, when they occur, and how they influence longevity.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130821445","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Autonomic Control of Immune Function","authors":"E. Wohleb","doi":"10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ACREFORE/9780190264086.013.275","url":null,"abstract":"Proper immune function is critical to maintain homeostasis, recognize and eliminate pathogens, and promote tissue repair. Primary and secondary immune organs receive input from the autonomic nervous system and immune cells express receptors for epinephrine, norepinephrine, and/or acetylcholine. Through direct signaling the autonomic nervous system controls immune function by altering immune cell development, initiating redistribution of immune cells throughout the body, and promoting molecular pathways that shift immune cell reactivity. This neuroimmune communication allows the autonomic nervous system to shape immune function based on physiological and psychological demands.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-04-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116331330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evolution of Neocortex for Sensory Processing","authors":"J. Kaas","doi":"10.1093/acrefore/9780190264086.013.111","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190264086.013.111","url":null,"abstract":"The neocortex is a part of the forebrain of mammals that is an innovation of mammal-like “reptilian” synapsid ancestors of early mammals. This neocortex emerged from a small region of dorsal cortex that was present in earlier ancestors and is still found in the forebrain of present-day reptiles. Instead of the thick structure of six layers of cells (five layers) and fibers (one layer) of neocortex of mammals, the dorsal cortex was characterized by a single layer of pyramidal neurons and a scattering of small, largely inhibitory neurons. In reptiles, the dorsal cortex is dominated by visual inputs, with outputs that relate to behavior and memory. The thicker neocortex of six layers in early mammals was already divided into a number of functionally specialized zones called cortical areas that were predominantly sensory in function, while relating to important aspects of motor behavior via subcortical projections. These early sensorimotor areas became modified in various ways as different branches of the mammalian radiation evolved, and neocortex often increased in size and the number of cortical areas, likely by the process of specializations within areas that subdivided areas. At least some areas, perhaps most, subdivided in another way by evolving two or more alternating types of small regions of different functional specializations, now referred to as cortical modules or columns. The specializations within and across cortical areas included those in the sizes of neurons and the extents of their processes, the dendrites and axons, and thus connections with other neurons. As a result, the neocortex of present-day mammals varies greatly within and across phylogenetically related groups (clades), while retaining basic features of organization from early ancestral mammals. In a number of present-day (extant) mammals, brains are relatively small and have little neocortex, with few areas and little structural differentiation, thus resembling early mammals. Other small mammals with little neocortex have specialized some part via selective enlargement and structural modifications to promote certain sensory abilities. Other mammals have a neocortex that is moderately to greatly expanded, with more cortical areas directly related to sensory processing and cognition and memory. The human brain is extreme in this way by having more neocortex in proportion to the rest of the brain, more cortical neurons, and likely more cortical areas.","PeriodicalId":216585,"journal":{"name":"Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Neuroscience","volume":"53 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127283781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}