Itch Induces Conditioned Place Aversion in Mice. Mu, D, & Sun, Y-G. (2017). Neuroscience Letters, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2017.08.046 “Consistently, ablation of itch‐specific neurons that express gastrin‐releasing peptide receptor in the spinal cord also abolished itch‐induced Conditioned Place Aversion (CPA), confirming that itch‐induced CPA is dependent on the spinal itch circuit.” Mice were given a single intrathecal injection

Phrenic long-term facilitation following intrapleural CTB-SAP-induced respiratory motor neuron death. Nichols NL, Craig TA, & Tanner MA. Respir Physiol Neurobiol. 2018 Oct;256:43-49. doi: 10.1016/j.resp.2017.08.003. Epub 2017 Aug 16. There are currently no approved treatment options to significantly preserve/restore breathing capacity in patients with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Intrapleural CTB-SAP (Cat. #IT-14) mimics aspects of ALS. This

Selective Cholinergic Depletion of Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus Aggravates Freezing of Gait in Parkinsonian Rats.  Xiao, H, Li, M, Cai, J, et al. (2017). Neurosci Lett [Epub 10 August 2017]. PMID: 28803956 Many patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease suffer from gait and postural impairments.  The authors used Anti-ChAT-SAP (Cat. #IT-42) to specifically lesion neurons in the Pedunculopontine Tegmental Nucleus (PPTg) to examine the

Blocking microglial pannexin-1 channels alleviates morphine withdrawal in rodents.  Burma, N.E., R.P. Bonin, H. Leduc-Pessah, et al.  Nat Med, 2017. 23(3): p. 355-360. PMID: 28134928 The authors investigated the mechanisms underlying opiate withdrawal in rat.  Depletion of spinal lumbar microglia by intrathecal injections of Mac-1–SAP (Cat. #IT-33; 20 mcg) decreased withdrawal behaviors and attenuated the severity of

The rostromedial tegmental nucleus and alcohol addiction. Ye J-H, Fu R, He W. (2017). Impact Journals. 2017;8(12):18624-18625. The authors discuss their work (1) with Dermorphin-SAP (Cat. #IT-12) and their demonstration that damage of RMTg MOR-expressing GABAergic neurons by Dermorphin-SAP increased the intake and preference for alcohol, boosted the expression and slowed down the extinction of alcohol

Acute Effects of Alcohol on Sleep Are Mediated by Components of Homeostatic Sleep Regulatory System: An Editorial Highlight for ‘Lesions of the Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Neurons Attenuates Sleepiness and Adenosine after Alcohol Consumption.’ Alam, MN, & McGinty, D. (2017). J Neurochem 2017/07/25. In the study, titled ‘Lesions of the basal forebrain cholinergic neurons attenuates sleepiness and

Validation and Characterization of a Novel Method for Selective Vagal Deafferentation of the Gut. Diepenbroek C, Quinn D, Stephens R, Zollinger B, Anderson S, Pan A, de Lartigue G. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 2017. PMID: 28705805 The authors Injected CCK-SAP (Cat. #IT-31) into the nodose ganglia (NG) of rats to specifically ablate GI‐VAN

ATS is in Booth 114 at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in London this week. Did you know that table tennis is widely reported to be an effective therapy for patients with Alzheimer’s Disease? This was news to us, but made us even more happy for ATS associates to be playing every Friday afternoon. Check

Cholinergic input to the hippocampus is not required for episodic memory in the rat, even with multiple consecutive events.S. Seel, M.J. Eacott, A. Easton. Behav Brain Res 2017. PMID: 28601587   The authors use 192-IgG-SAP (Cat. #IT-01) to examine episodic memory. Continual trials versions of an episodic memory task are unimpaired by cholinergic lesions of the medial septum. In contrast continual