Bibliography: leaves 152-170.

Cockroach salivary glands are innervated by dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons. Both transmitters elicit saliva secretion. We studied the distribution pattern of neurons containing gamma-aminobutyric acid ( GABA) and their physiological role. Immunofluorescence revealed a GABA-immunoreactive axon that originates within the subesophageal ganglion at the salivary neuron 2 (SN2) and this extends within the salivary duct nerve towards the salivary gland. GABA-positive fibers form a network on most acinar lobules and a dense plexus in the interior of a minor fraction of acinar lobules. Co-staining with anti-synapsin revealed that some putative GABAergic terminals seem to make pre-synaptic contacts with GABA-negative release sites. Many putative GABAergic release sites are at some distance from other synapses and at distance from the acinar tissue. Intracellular recordings from isolated salivary glands have revealed that GABA does not affect the basolateral membrane potential of the acinar cells directly. When applied during salivary duct nerve stimulation, GABA enhances the electrical response of the acinar cells and increases the rates of fluid and protein secretion. The effect on electrical cell responses is mimicked by the GABA(B) receptor agonists baclofen and SKF97541, and blocked by the GABAB receptor antagonists CGP52432 and CGP54626. These findings indicate that GABA has a modulatory role in the control of salivation, acting presynaptically on serotonergic and/or dopaminergic neurotransmission.

Dans le domaine des comportements sexuels chez l'humain, la sensibilité de la région génitale est essentielle. Il est formellement connu que cette région du corps est une zone dite « érogène » très innervée. Mais qu'en est-il vraiment? La sensibilité de la région périnéale chez l'homme résulte de l'activité de ces récepteurs. Un récepteur cutané est un organe sensoriel situé dans le derme ou l'épiderme. Il existe trois catégories de récepteurs qui sont définis par leur modalité: les mécanorécepteurs, les thermorécepteurs et les nocicepteurs. Cette étude traite des mécanorécepteurs. La sensation déclenchée par une stimulation tactile est évaluée chez l'homme conscient en laboratoire par des tests de seuils de détection psychophysiques. L'objectif principal est d'établir une cartographie des seuils de détection de la région périnéale chez l'homme sain. Le sous objectif est d'en déduire la présence de récepteurs cutanés. Les participants étaient de sexe masculin. La population expérimentale était dite « saine ». Les sujets étaient âgés de 18 à 35 ans. Le nombre de participants était de 12. Les trois séries de modalités ont été effectuées dans l'ordre suivant : toucher léger, pression et vibration. Les monofilaments de Semmes-Weinstein ont été utilisés pour mesurer le seuil de détection au toucher léger. Le Vulvogesiomètre a été utilisés pour mesurer le seuil de détection à la pression. L'appareil de mesure pour la vibration était un Vibralgic®. Les tests ont été effectués en condition flasque avec le prépuce rétracté et toujours dans le même ordre. Le cou, le ventre la base dorsale, le corps du pénis, la couronne du gland, le milieu du gland, la base ventrale, le frein et le testicule droit. L'analyse descriptive des données a été faite à partir des données brutes pour obtenir les seuils de détection. Puis des regroupements par zone ont été effectués pour l'analyse statistique. Dans le premier regroupement par zone on distingue la zone sexuelle secondaire (le cou), la zone neutre (le ventre) et la zone génitale qui comprend tous les points de la région périnéale. Les résultats d'une analyse de la variance montrent que : (l) la zone sexuelle secondaire est plus sensible au toucher léger que la zone neutre et la zone génitale (ou sexuelle); (2) la zone sexuelle secondaire est plus sensible à la pression que la zone neutre mais pas que la zone sexuelle; (3) la sensibilité à la vibration est la même pour l'ensemble des régions testées, mais la sensibilité à la vibration à 128Hz est plus grande que celles à 30Hz et 64Hz qui sont similaires. Les travaux effectués nous ont permis d'établir une cartographie des seuils de sensibilité de la région périnéale pour le toucher léger, la pression et la vibration. La zone sexuelle secondaire se démarque des autres comme étant la plus sensible. La zone génitale se rapproche plus de la zone neutre. En lien avec la neurophysiologie, nos résultats permettent de suspecter la présence sur le gland de corpuscules de Meissner et de corpuscules de Pacini. Ces résultats sont cliniquement importants puisqu'ils apportent de nouvelles données sur des régions non étudiées dans la littérature. Ils offrent de nouveaux outils pour la comparaison avec des populations cliniques comme les blessés médullaires et les transsexuels. Ils sont aussi pertinents pour la comparaison avec des patients post-chirurgie génitale. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Région périnéale, seuil de sensibilité, vibration, pression, toucher léger.

No description available.

The effects on the cardiac cycle length of stimulating the vagus nerves with single supramaximal electrical shocks depended upon when they were stimulated during the cycle. A maximum prolongation of the cardiac cycle was obtained when the vagi were stimulated 167 msec (SD±64) after the peak of an electrocardiogram P wave. The interval between a P wave and the subsequent vagal stimulation was called Pl-St interval. Pl-St(max) was the Pl-St interval at which maximum prolongation of the cardiac cycle occurred. Pl-St(max) increased significantly (p (0.001) with longer cardiac cycles. When the Pl-St intervals were shorter or longer than 167 msec (SD±64) the effects of vagal stimulation were less. The latent period for the effects of vagal stimulation was 195 msec (SD±32) The latent period also increased significantly (p(O.Ol) with longer cardiac cycles. The rise time of the vagal effect, obtained by subtracting (Pl-St(max)+ latent period) from the control cardiac cycle length, was 124 msec (SD+31) and occurred between Pl-St intervals of 167 msec (SD±64) and 291 msec (SD±70). The rise time did not vary with cardiac cycle length (p) 0.1), but the magnitude of the maximum response to vagal stimulation was inversely proportional to rise time (p <. 0.02). The peak response to vagal stimulation must have occurred when the vagal effects pegan somewhere in the middle of diastolic depolarization of the pacemaker cells in the S-A node. The reasons for this were discussed. The half-decay time for the effects of vagal stimulation was 210 msec (SD±102). The slope of the curve relating the prolongation of the cardiac cycle length to Pl-St is positive at Pl-St intervals less than 167 msec (SD±64) and negative at Pl-St intervals between 167 msec (SD±64) and 291 msec (SD±90). The positive slope ranged from 0.13 to 0.48 with a mean of 0.23. The paradoxical responses of the S-A node to vagal inhibitory input obtained by Reid (1969), Levy et al (1969)and Dong and Reitz (1970) would be explained by the dependence of the cardiac cycle length upon the time of arrival of vagal stimulus in relation to the previous P wave and upon the slope of the curve relating the prolongation of the cardiac cycle length to Pl-St interval being positive and between zero and two at Pl-St intervals less than 167 msec (SD±64. The effects of single shock stimulation of the vagus nerves persisted for 3.890 sec (SD+l.255)7 the number of cardiac cycles involved varied between 5 and 11. The duration of the effects of vagal stimulation did not depend upon when during the cardiac cycle the vagi were stimulated. A "dip" in the response to vagal stimulation was present in all the experiments. The possibility of the "dip" phenomenon being due to simultaneous stimulation of the sympathetic fibres in the vago-sympathetic trunk was ruled out. It is suggested that the "dip" phenomenon may be due to transient accumulation of K+ in the interstitial fluid surrounding the pacemaker cells in the S-A node.There was no paradoxical response of the smooth muscle in the distal colon of the adult rabbit when the frequency of sympathetic inhibitory input was continuously increased. A paradoxical response in the frequency but not in the size of the contraction of the smooth muscle was obtained when the sympathetic nerves were stimulated with bursts of stimuli, each burst consisting of 5-40 impulses, 10 msec apart. One may conclude from this that the delay of the next spontaneous contraction but not the inhibition of the size of smooth muscle contraction is dependent upon the arrival time of a burst of stimuli during a contraction cycle. This was confirmed in an experiment when the sympathetic nerves were stimulated with single bursts of stimuli applied at different times during the contraction cycle. It is unlikely that such a paradoxical response would occur under physiological conditions as this would require the natural sympathetic efferent discharges to the smooth muscle to occur in regular bursts, each burst consisting of impulses at a high frequency. Stimulation of the sympathetic nerves at 3, 5, 10 and 25 PPS caused an inhibition of the size and frequency of smooth muscle contraction in the distal colon of the newborn rabbit. Assuming that the cholinergic fibres are excitatory there is therefore no evidence for the sympathetic fibres to the distal colon being cholinergic in the newborn rabbit. This is contrary to Burn's (1968) report of the sympathetic fibres being motor and cholinergic to the small intestinal smooth muscle in the newborn rabbit.The heart rate increased rapidly at the onset of exercise and then more gradually over the rest of the exercise period. The initial increase in the heart rate during exercise was not affected by adrenergic blockade but the subsequent increase in heart rate was significantly reduced by adrenergic blockade. Hence the increase in heart rate at the onset of exercise is due primarily to a decrease in the cardiac vagal efferent discharge, whereas the subsequent increase in heart rate is due to both a further decrease ln vagal discharge and an increase in sympathetic discharge to the S-A node. In almost all the sub jects there was initially a rapid decline in the heart rate in the post-exercise period, but subsequently the heart rate returned to resting levels in a variety of ways. These were classified into 5 types. Of particular interest to the present study was the Type V pattern of heart rate change. This was characterised by an increase in heart rate of 6 beats or more per minute during the post-exercise period, with or without superimposed arrhythmia. The Type V pattern may be the equivalent of the paradoxical responses to inhibitory input demonstrated in animal experiments i.e. an increase in the heart rate with increasing vagal stimulation frequency. Type V pattern occurred more frequently at mild exercise levels (4 out of 14) than at moderate exercise level (lout of 14) and also more frequently in adrenergic blocked individuals (11 out of 28) than in control subjects (5 out of 28) It is suggested that the sympathetic effects on the P-R interval and arterial baroreceptor modulation of vagal efferent discharge protect again st the occurrence of paradoxical responses to vagal inhibitory input. They may do so by confining the vagal discharge to the rise time of vagal effect during the cardiac cycle. On the other hand the Type V pattern in p-adrenergic blocked individuals may be due to a decrease in the vagal discharge, in which case Type V pattern would not be a paradoxical response. The changes in minute ventilation in the post-exercise period were also variable. Besides a gradual decline in minute ventilation there were also gradual increases and sudden increases and decreases in minute ventilation. These may represent a form of paradoxical response to increasing inhibitory input and decreasing excitatory input to the respiratory neurones in man. However, all the changes in minute ventilation could also be explained by fluctuating excitatory and inhibitory neural input to the respiratory neurones. / Thesis (MD)-University of Natal, Durban, 1973.

ABSTRACT CLINICAL OUTCOMES INVOLVING THE USE OF EXTRACORPOREAL MAGNETIC INNERVATION IN THE TREATMENT OF URINARY INCONTINENCE by KATHY E. DAVIS Urinary incontinence affects approximately 25 million Americans, significantly diminishing their function and quality of life. It is estimated that 50% of all women will experience some form of urinary incontinence in their lifetime. Although women are disproportionately affected by urinary incontinence, 69% of men who have undergone prostatectomy also report post-surgical incontinence. Extracorporeal Magnetic Innervation (ExMI) is a novel conservative approach to the treatment of urinary incontinence. As a patient sits fully clothed on a chair, an electromagnet delivers a timed magnetic field that penetrates the pelvic floor, inducing a nerve impulse that prompts contractions of the muscles of the pelvic floor. When the magnet is switched off, the muscles relax. This forced, passive exercise of the pelvic floor muscles serves to build endurance and strengthen the muscles supporting the bladder during times of physical stress such as coughing, laughing or running. This study is a descriptive, retrospective analysis of data collected from a specialty continence center within a major Atlanta metropolitan outpatient facility. The records for all patients who received ExMI from 2000 to 2012 were reviewed. Of the 43 patients who had received ExMI, 35 met study inclusion criteria. Eight patients were eliminated from the study. Four of these patients experienced ExMI benefits for conditions unrelated to urinary incontinence and are discussed. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. . The majority of the patients were women (n=26, 74%); most patients had stress urinary incontinence (n=16, 46%) or mixed urinary incontinence (n=12, 34%). The patient outcome was determined by comparing the pad usage before treatment and at the end of treatment (16 weeks). The average number of pads used daily was significantly reduced to 1.6 3 + 0.94 (p<.0001). Treatment with ExMI for urinary incontinence was briefly popular in the United States shortly after it was introduced. Although ExMI is used extensively across Europe and Asia, very few studies on the efficacy of ExMI appear in the literature. These results will add to this body of knowledge.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1982. / Bibliography: leaves 260-277. / Microfiche. / xiv, 277 leaves, bound ill. 29 cm

Includes bibliographies. / 1 v. : ill. ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / The present study provides a detailed account of the anatomical and neurohistological structure of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) in foetal and adult Australian Merino sheep. The purpose is to describe the innervation of the joint and to determine the possible roles of both afferent receptor structures and neuropeptides in the pathophysiology of experimentally induced osteoarthritis. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Anatomical Science, 1997

Title page, table of contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University of Adelaide Library. / The ophthalmic, maxillary and mandibular axon branches of the trigeminal ganglion (TG) provide cutaneous sensory innervation to the vertebrate face, and multiple families of guidance cues amalgamate to direct the navigation of these branches. However, target tissue specific guidance cues that discriminately guide the three TG axon branches are unknown. Prior work demonstrated that EphAs and ephrin-As could discriminately direct dorsal versus ventral motor axon projections into the hindlimb. Similarly, do EphA tyrosine kinases and ephrin-A ligands discriminately guide trigeminal ganglion ophthalmic (TGop) lobe versus maxillomandibular (TGmm) axon projections into the chick embryo face? The aims of this work were two-fold: (1) to identify candidate EphA and ephrin-A molecules during TG axon guidance, and (2) to detennine the functional significance of TG axon EphA and ephrin-A signalling in vitro. This study identified EphA3, EphA4, ephrin-A2 and ephrin-A5 at stages 13, IS and 20, as putative guidance cues to TG axons. TG-EphA3 and -ephrin-A5 were identified as putative receptors to guidance cues expressed in the target fields. EphA3 receptor was differentially expressed, with the TGop lobe expressing higher levels compared to the TGmm lobe. However, ephrin-A5 transcript was not differentially expressed between the two ganglion lobes. In a substratum choice in vitro assay, ephrin-AS-Fc was found to repel approximately 50% of axons growing from stage 20 whole TG explants. This population of axons was identified to be from the TGop lobe. The in vitro data supports the contention that during facial development there may be trigeminal ganglion lobe specific guidance of TGop in comparison to TGmm peripheral sensory axonal projections to target fields coordinated through EphA3 and ephrin-A2/A5 repulsive interactions. In vitro, EphA4-Fc caused morphological changes to TG growth cones, which is likely mediated through TG ephrin-A5 reverse signaling. Furthermore, this study provided in vitro evidence that trigeminal ganglion axons were not responsive to EphA4-Fc, possibly implying that EphAs expressed in the target fields were not repulsive to ganglionic axons during pathfinding. The data suggests that EphN ephrin-A interactions may specifically guide TGop projections into the ophthalmic process similar to lateral motor axon guidance into the hindlimb. For the first time, a model of how EphN ephrin-A interactions and other families of guidance cues may act in concert to guide trigeminal ganglion axons is suggested. / http://proxy.library.adelaide.edu.au/login?url= http://library.adelaide.edu.au/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=1179603 / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, 2005

Within the span of few decades, there has been a significant increase in diabetes mellitus and chronic stress in developed countries, such as the Czech Republic. These conditions have a significant negative effect on physical and mental health. Repeated and long-term exposure to raised levels of glucose, overactivity of the sympathetic nervous system and the increase in plasma levels of stress hormones affects most of the organs in the body, including the heart. The cardiovascular system is regulated by a broad number of neurotransmitters, hormones and neuropeptides. Alterations in the innervation of the cardiovascular system, as a result of both diseases, can affect its physiological functions. The present thesis focuses not only on the role of the classic, but primarily on the peptidergic innervation of the heart. The aim was to contribute to the explanation of the impact of neuropeptides and their shared receptor systems on the genesis and the development of heart damage due to diabetes mellitus and/or exposure to stressors. Knowledge of the physiological characteristics of neuropeptides and their involvement in the pathogenesis of both diseases and related complications could be helpful in determining the optimal treatment method or alternatively allow us to use the cardio protective effect of...