Disease relevance of Habenula

• Single intraperitoneal injection of melatonin in a dose of 1 mg/kg prevented accumulation of cGMP and intensification of lipid peroxidation in the hippocampus and habenula of rats exposed to acute hypobaric hypoxia (12,000 m) [1].

Psychiatry related information on Habenula

• The reduced activity in the hippocampus induced by diazepam retreatment and the increased activity in the lateral habenula induced by droperidol pretreatment may be factors in the clinical reduction of ketamine hyperexcitability and hallucination by these drugs [2].
• Estrogen implants in the lateral habenular nucleus do not stimulate the onset of maternal behavior in female rats [3].
• In cats with lesions in the lateral habenula, 10(-4) pg AVT injected into the pineal recess, failed to decrease raphe dorsalis 5-HIAA levels and to induce slow wave sleep [4].
• Changes in motor activities induced by microinjections of the selective dopamine agonists LY 171555, quinpirole hydrochloride, and SK&F 38393 into the habenula nucleus [5].

High impact information on Habenula

• Nicotine is known to act on presynaptic nAChRs within the habenula of chick to enhance glutamatergic transmission; here we report that a similar mechanism operates in the hippocampus [6].
• These processes were visualized immunocytochemically in the Djungarian hamster, Phodopus sungorus, with an antiserum against bovine retinal S-antigen and traced as far as the region of the posterior commissure and habenular nuclei [7].
• Substance P or a peptide similar to it was also observed in cell bodies in the medial habenula and in probable nerve terminals in many brain areas [8].
• Comparative autoradiography studies of brains of wild-type (wt) and 5-HT5A knockout (5A-KO) mice revealed the existence of binding sites with high affinity for [125I]LSD that correspond to 5-HT5A receptors and that are concentrated in the olfactory bulb, neocortex, and medial habenula [9].
• In the brain we observe discrete neuronal localizations of D-aspartate, especially in the external plexiform layer of the olfactory bulb, hypothalamic supraoptic and paraventricular nuclei, the medial habenula, and certain brainstem nuclei [10].

Chemical compound and disease context of Habenula

• In 16-day pregnant, hysterectomized-ovariectomized and estradiol benzoate-treated rats, cytotoxic lesions of the lateral habenula (Lhb) produced severe deficits in maternal behavior (K.P. Corodimas, J.S. Rosenblatt, M.E. Canfield, & J.I. Morrell, 1993) [11].

Biological context of Habenula

• Ca2+ permeability and kinetics of glutamate receptors in rat medial habenula neurones: implications for purinergic transmission in this nucleus [12].
• An 11.2 kb transgene (named hV11.2) that spanned from about 5 kb upstream of the start of vesicular acetylcholine transporter translation down to the first choline acetyltransferase coding exon gave expression in the somatomotor neurons and a subpopulation of cholinergic neurons in the medial habenular nucleus [13].
• Expression of the calcium binding protein (CaBP) calretinin (CR) was studied with immunohistochemistry in the pineal complex and habenular nuclei (HN) of the developing and adult frog Rana esculenta [14].
• The largest change in somatostatin gene expression after dopaminergic lesions is the increase in somatostatin mRNA level sin neurons of the internal pallidum and lateral hypothalamus projecting to the lateral habenula [15].

Anatomical context of Habenula

• One multisynaptic pathway may link olfactory structures with limbic circuits in the amygdala and habenula [16].
• The highest densities of hybridization were distributed within hippocampal pyramidal and granule cells, medial habenula, Purkinje cells and the molecular layer of cerebellum, and olfactory bulb [17].
• Following a 3-d washout, glucose utilization was found to be decreased by both levodopa regimens in the nucleus accumbens; intermittent levodopa also decreased glucose utilization in the entopeduncular nucleus, subthalamic nucleus, ventrolateral thalamus, ventromedial thalamus, ventroposterolateral thalamus, and lateral habenula [18].
• DARPP-32 immunoreactivity is also present in certain glial cells, especially in the median eminence, arcuate nucleus, and medial habenula [19].
• Blockade of the GABA inhibitory pathway to the lateral habenula by the local application of picrotoxin reduced [3H]serotonin release in both substantiae nigra and increased release of the 3H-amine in the dorsal raphe but was without effect on [3H]serotonin release in either caudate nucleus [20].

Associations of Habenula with chemical compounds

• Using an antiserum (LR-1) raised against mammalian gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), we previously identified a nonneuronal cell that was more numerous in the medial habenula (MH) of courting ring doves than in individuals housed in visual isolation [21].
• In addition, glucose utilization in ipsilateral lateral habenular nucleus was increased at each of the above time points [22].
• Reward-blocking doses of the neuroleptic pimozide activated the caudate and the lateral habenula but did not alter any of the unilateral effects of stimulation [23].
• Tranylcypromine prevented the elevated rate of lateral habenula metabolism seen in each of the models alone but did not significantly affect the rates of global metabolism [24].
• Stimulant-induced psychosis, the dopamine theory of schizophrenia, and the habenula [25].

Gene context of Habenula

• Furthermore, in the medial habenula and in the nuclei of the pons, there exists a high density of cells expressing both FGFR1 and FGFR2 (60-100%) [26].
• The Msx1 mutants display severe hydrocephalus at birth, while the subcommissural organ, the habenula, and the posterior commissure fail to develop correctly [27].
• AVP levels in the lateral habenula are elevated both on day 16 of pregnancy and on the first day PP [28].
• However, there are also differences in the expression patterns, for example, high expression of MCHR1 was detected in the lateral habenula, but no expression of MIZIP [29].
• KChIP1 was expressed in a subpopulation of neurons widely distributed in brain and enriched in Purkinje cells of the cerebellum and in the reticular thalamic and medial habenular nuclei [30].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Habenula

• 1. ATP and glutamatergic synaptic currents were compared in slices of rat medial habenula nucleus using whole-cell patch-clamp techniques [31].
• A subgroup of neurons in the hippocampus, striatum, septum, and habenula, classified type B, were not immunoreactive in intact rats, showed intense cytoplasmic immunoreactivity after adrenalectomy, and disappeared rapidly after corticosterone treatment and later in response to aldosterone [32].
• Behavioural activation by electrical stimulation of the lateral habenula resulted in a 4-fold increase in acetylcholine release in normal animals, and this response was totally blocked by a transection of the lateral habenular efferents running in the fasciculus retroflexus [33].
• Employing a combination of fluorescent retrograde axonal tracing with fluorogold and tyrosine hydroxylase immunofluorescence histochemistry, we investigated the distribution of cells of origin of the dopaminergic afferent fibers to the lateral habenular nucleus in the rat [34].
• Characterization of epibatidine binding to medial habenula: potential role in analgesia [35].

References