Topic: α7 nAChR

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is a brain region responsible for a variety of cognitive functions including attention and working memory. Cholinergic neurons, which release acetylcholine (ACh), are known to enhance attention and their pathophysiology is associated with disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease and epilepsy. Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are activated by the cholinergic system and modulate neuronal excitability. Therefore, understanding nAChR mediated synaptic neurotransmission will allow us to better understand how the activity of neurons are precisely controlled

Prenatal pathologies like fetal hypoxia or prenatal stress are increasingly recognized contributors to later-life neuropsychiatric diseases. These pathologies often co-occur, making it challenging to distinguish their individual effects. To address this, we modeled prenatal severe hypoxia (PSH) associated with maternal stress, or prenatal intrauterine ischemia (PII). Both adult PSH and PII rats showed elevated HIF1α levels in the hippocampus (HPC), but only PSH rats exhibited an impaired circadian glucocorticoid rhythm, demonstrating the suitability of both models for the research objectives.C