QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

The Journal of Neuroscience, December 1, 2004, 24(48):10773-10785; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1573-04.2004

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (15) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Devilbiss, D. M. Articles by Waterhouse, B. D. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Devilbiss, D. M. Articles by Waterhouse, B. D. Pubmed/NCBI databases Compound via MeSH Substance via MeSH

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
The Effects of Tonic Locus Ceruleus Output on Sensory-Evoked Responses of Ventral Posterior Medial Thalamic and Barrel Field Cortical Neurons in the Awake Rat

David M. Devilbiss¹ and Barry D. Waterhouse²

¹Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, and ²Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19129

In mammals, the pontine nucleus locus ceruleus (LC) is the sole source of norepinephrine (NE) projections to the forebrain. Increasing tonic discharge of LC neurons elevates extracellular levels of NE in the cortex and thalamus. Tonic LC discharge is linked to the level of wakefulness and behavioral performance, demonstrating an optimal firing rate during sustained attention tasks. Iontophoretic application of NE to target neurons in the forebrain has been shown to produce a diverse set of neuromodulatory actions, including augmentation of synaptically evoked discharge as well as suppression of spontaneous and stimulus-evoked firing patterns. Iontophoretic studies cataloged potential NE effects; however, the context in which such actions could occur in awake behaving animals remained controversial. To address this issue, the current study examined the effects of increasing tonic LC output on spontaneous and stimulus-evoked discharge of neurons within the ventroposterior medial (VPM) thalamus and barrel field (BF) somatosensory cortex of awake animals using multichannel extracellular recording strategies. The present findings indicate two primary outcomes that result from increasing frequencies of LC stimulation, either an inverted-U facilitating response profile or monotonic suppression of sensory-evoked neuronal responses. Increased tonic LC output generally decreased neuronal response latency measures for both BF cortical and VPM thalamic cells. LC-mediated effects on target VPM and BF cortical neuron sensory processing are consistent with previous demonstrations of NE modulatory actions on central neurons but indicate that such actions are cell specific. Moreover, clear differences were observed between the modulation of VPM and BF cortical cells. These data suggest that sensory signal processing is continually altered over the range of tonic LC discharge frequencies that occur in the waking animal. Such changes may account for LC-mediated shifts in sensory network performance across multiple stages of arousal and attention.

Key words: locus ceruleus; norepinephrine; dose-response relationship; somatosensory cortex; somatosensory thalamus; single-unit recording

---

Received Oct 29, 2003; revised October 19, 2004; accepted October 19, 2004.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. M. Buffalari and A. A. Grace Noradrenergic Modulation of Basolateral Amygdala Neuronal Activity: Opposing Influences of {alpha}-2 and {beta} Receptor Activation J. Neurosci., November 7, 2007; 27(45): 12358 - 12366. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. M. Devilbiss and C. W. Berridge Low-Dose Methylphenidate Actions on Tonic and Phasic Locus Coeruleus Discharge J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther., December 1, 2006; 319(3): 1327 - 1335. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. M. Devilbiss, M. E. Page, and B. D. Waterhouse Locus Ceruleus Regulates Sensory Encoding by Neurons and Networks in Waking Animals J. Neurosci., September 27, 2006; 26(39): 9860 - 9872. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. E. Gold The many faces of amnesia. Learn. Mem., September 1, 2006; 13(5): 506 - 514. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Drouin, M. Page, and B. Waterhouse Methylphenidate Enhances Noradrenergic Transmission and Suppresses Mid- and Long-Latency Sensory Responses in the Primary Somatosensory Cortex of Awake Rats J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2006; 96(2): 622 - 632. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. C. Leiser and K. A. Moxon Relationship Between Physiological Response Type (RA and SA) and Vibrissal Receptive Field of Neurons Within the Rat Trigeminal Ganglion J Neurophysiol, May 1, 2006; 95(5): 3129 - 3145. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				L. M. Hurley and G. D. Pollak Serotonin Shifts First-Spike Latencies of Inferior Colliculus Neurons J. Neurosci., August 24, 2005; 25(34): 7876 - 7886. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. L Voisin, N Guy, M Chalus, and R Dallel Nociceptive stimulation activates locus coeruleus neurones projecting to the somatosensory thalamus in the rat J. Physiol., August 1, 2005; 566(3): 929 - 937. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help