To determine the temporal evolution of neuronal sensitivity and of coherence, the optimal size and position of the encoding windows were assessed. For a subset of neurons from the premotor ventral cortex, neuronal sensitivity was close to behavioral sensitivity and the trial-to-trial coherence between the neuronal and behavioral choices was close to 100%. By comparing these results with those obtained in a motor control task we ruled out the possibility of this activity being explained by the

motor component of the task. These results suggest that activity in the ventral premotor cortex explains behavioral performance and predicts trial-to-trial subject choices. “
“Relapse is a hallmark of cocaine addiction. Cocaine-induced neuroplastic changes in the mesocorticolimbic circuits critically contribute to this phenomenon. Pre-clinical evidence indicates that relapse to cocaine-seeking behavior depends Vemurafenib order on activation find more of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area. Thus, blocking such activation may inhibit relapse. Because the activity of dopamine neurons is regulated by D2-like autoreceptors expressed on somatodendritic sites, this study, using the reinstatement model, aimed to determine whether activation of D2-like receptors in the ventral

tegmental area can inhibit cocaine-induced reinstatement of extinguished 4��8C cocaine-seeking behavior. Rats were trained to self-administer i.v. cocaine (0.25 mg/infusion) under a modified fixed-ratio 5 schedule. After such behavior was

well learned, rats went through extinction training to extinguish cocaine-seeking behavior. The effect of quinpirole, a selective D2-like receptor agonist microinjected into the ventral tegmental area, on cocaine-induced reinstatement was then assessed. Quinpirole (0–3.2 μg/side) dose-dependently decreased cocaine-induced reinstatement and such effects were reversed by the selective D2-like receptor antagonist eticlopride when co-microinjected with quinpirole into the ventral tegmental area. The effect appeared to be specific to the ventral tegmental area because quinpirole microinjected into the substantia nigra had no effect. Because D2-like receptors are expressed on rat ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons projecting to the pre-frontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, our data suggest that these dopamine circuits may play a critical role in cocaine-induced reinstatement. The role of potential changes in D2-like receptors and related signaling molecules of dopamine neurons in the vulnerability to relapse was discussed. “
“Neuroactive peptides and the intracellular calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) play important roles in light-induced modulation of gene expression in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) neurons that ultimately control behavioral rhythms.