Cholinergic neurons originating from the basal forebrain innervate the entire cortical mantle. Choline-sensitive microelectrodes were used to measure the synaptic release of cortical acetylcholine (ACh) at a subsecond resolution in rats performing a task involving the detection of cues. Cues that were detected, defined behaviorally, evoked transient increases in cholinergic activity (at the scale of seconds) in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), but not in a nonassociational control region (motor cortex). In trials involving missed cues, cholinergic transients were not observed. Cholinergic deafferentation of the mPFC, but not motor cortex, impaired cue detection. Furthermore, decreases and increases in precue cholinergic activity predicted subsequent cue detection or misses, respectively. Finally, cue-evoked cholinergic transients were superimposed over slower (at the timescale of minutes) changes in cholinergic activity. Cortical cholinergic neurotransmission is regulated on multiple timescales to mediate the detection of behaviorally significant cues and to support cognitive performance.

Neurotransmission operates on a millisecond timescale, but is changed by normal experience or neuropathology over days, weeks or even months. Despite the great importance of long-term neurotransmitter dynamics, no technique exists to track these changes within a subject from day to day over extended periods of time. Here we describe and characterize a microsensor that can detect the neurotransmitter dopamine with subsecond temporal resolution over months in vivo in rats and mice.

Leptin is a circulating protein involved in the long-term regulation of food intake and body weight. Cholecystokinin (CCK) is released postprandially and elicits satiety signals. We investigated the interaction between leptin and CCK-8 in the short-term regulation of food intake induced by 24-hr fasting in lean mice. Leptin, injected intraperitoneally (i.p.) at low doses (4-120 g͞kg), which did not influence feeding behavior for the first 3 hr postinjection, decreased food intake dose dependently by 47-83% during the first hour when coinjected with a subthreshold dose of CCK. Such an interaction was not observed between leptin and bombesin. The food-reducing effect of leptin injected with CCK was not associated with alterations in gastric emptying or locomotor behavior. Leptin-CCK action was blocked by systemic capsaicin at a dose inducing functional ablation of sensory afferent fibers and by devazepide, a CCK-A receptor antagonist but not by the CCK-B receptor antagonist, L-365,260. The decrease in food intake which occurs 5 hr after i.p. injection of leptin alone was also blunted by devazepide. Coinjection of leptin and CCK enhanced the number of Fos-positive cells in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus by 60%, whereas leptin or CCK alone did not modify Fos expression. These results indicate the existence of a functional synergistic interaction between leptin and CCK leading to early suppression of food intake which involves CCK-A receptors and capsaicin-sensitive afferent fibers.

Alterations of gastrointestinal (GI) motor function are part of the visceral responses to stress. Inhibition of gastric emptying and stimulation of colonic motor function are the commonly encountered patterns induced by various stressors. Activation of brain corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) receptors mediates stress-related inhibition of upper GI and stimulation of lower GI motor function through interaction with different CRF receptor subtypes. CRF subtype 1 receptors are involved in the colonic and anxiogenic responses to stress and may have clinical relevance in the comorbidity of anxiety/depression and irritable bowel syndrome.

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Peripheral CRF inhibits gastric emptying and stimulates colonic motor function in rats. We investigated the role of CRF 1 and CRF 2 receptors in i.p. CRF-induced alterations of gut transit in conscious mice using selective CRF 1 and CRF 2 ligands injected i.p. Gastric emptying 2 h after ingestion of a solid chow meal and colonic transit (time to expel a bead inserted into the distal colon) were determined simultaneously. Rat/human (r/ h)CRF, which has CRF 1 Ͼ CRF 2 binding affinity, decreased distal colonic transit time at lower doses (6 -12 g/kg) than those inhibiting gastric emptying (20 -60 g/kg). Ovine CRF, a preferential CRF 1 receptor agonist (6 -60 g/kg), reduced significantly the colonic transit time without altering gastric emptying, whereas the selective CRF 2 receptor agonists mouse urocortin II (20 -60 g/kg) and urocortin III (120 g/kg) inhibited significantly gastric emptying without modifying colonic transit. The CRF 1 /CRF 2 receptor antagonist, astressin (30 -120 g/kg), , dose dependently abolished r/hCRF-induced delayed gastric emptying and had no effect on colonic response. These data show that i.p. r/hCRF-induced opposite actions on upper and lower gut transit in conscious mice are mediated by different CRF receptor subtypes: the activation of CRF 1 receptors stimulates colonic propulsive activity, whereas activation of CRF 2 receptors inhibits gastric emptying.

The excitability of spinal neurons that transmit pain is modulated by glutamate and substance P (SP). Glutamate is an excitatory neurotransmitter in the dorsal horn, and its effects are enhanced by SP acting on neurokinin 1 receptors (NK1Rs). We assessed activation of NK1Rs by studying their internalization in spinal cord slices. NK1Rs were localized in sections from the slices by using immunohistochemistry combined with fluorescence and confocal microscopy. Incubating the slices with SP induced internalization in most NK1R-positive neurons in laminae I, II o , and X and in half of NK1R-positive neurons in laminae III-V. SP-induced internalization was abolished by the specific NK1R antagonist L-703,606 (1 M). Stimulating the dorsal root with long-duration (0.4 msec) pulses evoked EPSPs in dorsal horn neurons with latencies consistent with the conduction speed of AѨ-and C-fibers. High-frequency (100 Hz) stimulation of the dorsal root with these pulses induced NK1R internalization in neurons in laminae I-II o of the stimulated side of the slice but not in the contralateral side or in other laminae. Stimulation at lower frequencies (1 and 10 Hz) failed to elicit significant internalization, suggesting that the release of SP is frequency-dependent. Internalization produced by the 100 Hz tetanus was mimicked by NMDA and blocked by an NMDA antagonist, 2-amino-5-phosphonopentanoic acid, but not by the AMPA and kainate antagonist CNQX. The NK1R antagonist L-703,606 abolished the internalization produced by 100 Hz stimulation or NMDA. Therefore, the release of SP in the dorsal horn appears to be controlled by NMDA receptors.

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