Abstract Dr. R. Buchanan
Common Mechanisms in Arousal and Movement: The Role of Pedunculopontine Stimulation-Induced Prolonged Responses
Dr. Buchanan will use intracellular recordings in rat brainstem slices to investigate one ascending (the centrolateral nucleus–CL) and two descending targets of the PPN (the rostral ventrolateral medulla–RVLM and the medioventral medulla–MED). The investigations described in the Research Plan are designed to test the hypothesis that these PPN stimulation-induced PRs provide an integrating signal that helps synchronize the disparate systems activated by an arousing stimulus. Specific questions that will be investigated include: What patterns of stimulation of the PPN (low, 10- 30 Hz, medium, 40-60 Hz, or high, >90 Hz) will induce such PRs? Will PRs in different targets all involve tonic firing at ~10 Hz? Does brief PPN stimulation at >90 Hz (which presumably mimics a pontogeniculooccipital burst) induce a different effect than stimulation at medium frequencies (which presumably mimics firing rates during waking) and at low frequencies (which mimics firing during slow-wave sleep)? Do the same principles apply at the ascending target as the descending targets?
Updated 10/31/2005
The Arkansas INBRE is Supported by a grant from the
National Institutes of Health
and the
National Center
for Research Resources (P20 RR-16460).
Please contact Caroline Miller Robinson regarding questions or comments about this site or our program. For more information about the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences visit http://www.uams.edu.
