Topic: pedunculopontine nucleus

Despite the widespread use of mice in neuroscience, rats offer unique benefits for translational research. However, comprehensive methodologies like tissue clearing and quantitative light-sheet microscopy, common in mouse studies, are scarce for rats. This gap is partly due to a lack of robust computational tools, limiting the use of rats in large-scale, unbiased experiments. Our study leverages recent advancements, including a detailed MRI-based rat brain atlas with 222 regions and an average light sheet template, to conduct an extensive analysis. Despite its comprehensiveness, this atlas fro

Fettah Abderrahman1, Boulain Marie1, Guilhemsang Lise2, Juvin Laurent1, Mallet Nicolas2, Barrière Grégory1 The intricate orchestration of motor control is governed by the cortico-basal ganglia- thalamocortical loops, with recent investigations highlighting the pivotal role of basal ganglia downstream projections to pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) in regulating specific motor programs. Despite these advancements, the precise mechanisms through which the basal ganglia networks selectively control these functional motor modules remain incompletely elucidated. Our findings in mouse reveal that th

In Parkinson’s disease (PD), patients often exhibit higher levels of somatic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage, particularly large-scale deletions, in their brains. This damage is associated with losing neurons, including nigral dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons in the Pedunculopontine Nucleus (PPN). Unlike dopaminergic neurons, PPN cholinergic neurons tend to maintain wild-type mtDNA levels by increasing mtDNA copy number (mtCN) in response to mtDNA deletions.Our study isolated single cholinergic neurons from post-mortem PPN tissue of PD patients and controls, examining mtDNA deletions' loc

The expression of the transmembrane neuronal gap junction protein connexin 36 (Cx36) was investigated in the reticulo-thalamic nucleus (RT) and in the CA3 region of hippocampus in a rat model of Parkinson’s disease (PD). We compared the Cx36 expression in a rat model of PD (the hemiparkinsonian rats with PD cholinopathy - unilateral lesion of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) with bilateral lesion of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPT)) versus control rats.A total of 12 adult male Wistar rats were divided in control group (n = 6) and PD group (n = 6). We performed a fluorescence immunoh

Locomotion initiation and speed control are dependent on activity in the Mesencephalic Locomotor Region (MLR). In mammals the MLR is constituted of glutamatergic neurons in the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) and cuneiform nucleus (CnF) that act together to control locomotion speed. To further understand their contribution in the context of sensory evoked locomotor behaviour, we asked how visually evoked locomotor escape responses in mice are modulated by MLR. To evoke natural escape we used innate looming responses. Using chemogenetic inhibition of targeted Vglut2+ glutamatergic neurons in PPN

The Pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) has long been associated with locomotion as part of themesencephalic locomotor region, and in arousal and sleep/wake states as part of theascending reticular activating system. In addition, several studies indicate that the PPN isinvolved in several other functions such as path integration, visual and auditory processing,attention and action-selection. As it was recently discovered thatoptogenetic stimulation of the rostral PPN can induce full body motor arrest, we wanted to investigateif this behavior was limited to motor output, or if sensory input was halt