Heterogeneous organization of the locus coeruleus projections to prefrontal and motor cortices.

ABSTRACT: The brainstem nucleus locus coeruleus (LC) is the primary source of norepinephrine (NE) to the mammalian neocortex. It is believed to operate as a homogeneous syncytium of transmitter-specific cells that regulate brain function and behavior via an extensive network of axonal projections and global transmitter-mediated modulatory influences on a diverse assembly of neural targets within the CNS. The data presented here challenge this longstanding notion and argue instead for segregated operation of the LC-NE system with respect to the functions of the circuits within its efferent domain. Anatomical, molecular, and electrophysiological approaches were used in conjunction with a rat model to show that LC cells innervating discrete cortical regions are biochemically and electrophysiologically

SUBMITTER: Chandler DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4020069 | biostudies-literature | 2014 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature