Osmotic stress mimics effects of vasopressin on learned behaviour

It has been suggested that arginine vasopressin (AVP) is involved in the retention of learned responses, in addition to its classical physiological functions of water retention and modulation of blood pressure. AVP administered subcutaneously (s.c.), intraventricularly or intracerebrally can prolong extinction of active avoidance behaviour and can enhance retention in inhibitory (passive) avoidance. These effects have been interpreted as a direct action of AVP on the central nervous system to facilitate memory consolidation. AVP also has facilitatory effects on cognitive function in humans, and marked deficits in AVP function have been associated with certain types of psychopathology. Alternative hypotheses for the behavioural actions of AVP have involved motivational constructs such as arousal, and our recent work has focused on the role of arousal resulting from the activation of peripheral visceral signals in the behavioural effects of peripherally administered AVP. The development of a specific antagonist for AVP, 1-deaminopenicillamine-2-O-methyl tyrosine arginine vasopressin (dPTyr(Me)AVP), which can reverse the behavioural effects of exogenously administered AVP, has provided a powerful tool for examining the role of AVP in the behavioural responses produced by physiological challenges known to release vasopressin. However, the relationship between the behavioural effects of exogenously administered AVP and the behavioural function of endogenously released AVP has not been evaluated. We report here that a potent peripheral osmotic stimulus, the intraperitoneal (i.p.) injection of hypertonic saline, at doses known to release AVP both centrally and peripherally, will produce behavioural effects similar to those of exogenously administered AVP. Furthermore, the prolongation of active avoidance induced by this osmotic stimulus is reversed by pretreatment with dPTyr(Me)AVP, suggesting that endogenously released AVP may also produce behavioural effects.     

几种神经肽对生殖的影响和作用

关于神经内分泌对生殖调控的研究已越来越多地集中在神经肽的作用上.速激肽即是神经 肽中较大的一族.对从无脊椎动物及脊椎动物中发现的几种速激肽和一些重要的神经肽在生殖中 的影响作出简要综述.     

Mapping of general anaesthetic target sites provides a molecular basis for cutoff effects

A longstanding and unresolved problem in general anaesthesia is the so-called 'cutoff' effect; as one ascends a homologous series of anaesthetic agents, the potencies progressively increase with anaesthetic size but then, rather suddenly, anaesthetic potency disappears. Curiously, this cutoff in potency occurs at very different points in different series. Various explanations have been offered, usually based on the notion that lipid bilayers are the primary target sites in general anaesthesia. However, accumulating evidence now suggests that proteins are the primary sites of action. Here we demonstrate cutoff effects for the anaesthetic inhibition of a soluble protein (firefly luciferase) which mirror those found for general anaesthesia, and we describe how the molecular architecture of the binding site accounts for the different cutoffs in the different homologous series. We show that this behaviour is a natural consequence of anaesthetics binding to an amphiphilic protein pocket of circumscribed dimensions. When general anaesthetic target sites in animals and the luciferase protein are mapped out using the fine details of the potency data, remarkable similarities are revealed. Our results thus suggest that the target sites in general anaesthesia are amphiphilic pockets on proteins.     

Computational roles for dopamine in behavioural control

Neuromodulators such as dopamine have a central role in cognitive disorders. In the past decade, biological findings on dopamine function have been infused with concepts taken from computational theories of reinforcement learning. These more abstract approaches have now been applied to describe the biological algorithms at play in our brains when we form value judgements and make choices. The application of such quantitative models has opened up new fields, ripe for attack by young synthesizers and theoreticians.     

Use of behavioural stochastic resonance by paddle fish for feeding

Stochastic resonance is the phenomenon whereby the addition of an optimal level of noise to a weak information-carrying input to certain nonlinear systems can enhance the information content at their outputs. Computer analysis of spike trains has been needed to reveal stochastic resonance in the responses of sensory receptors except for one study on human psychophysics. But is an animal aware of, and can it make use of, the enhanced sensory information from stochastic resonance? Here, we show that stochastic resonance enhances the normal feeding behaviour of paddlefish (Polyodon spathula), which use passive electroreceptors to detect electrical signals from planktonic prey. We demonstrate significant broadening of the spatial range for the detection of plankton when a noisy electric field of optimal amplitude is applied in the water. We also show that swarms of Daphnia plankton are a natural source of electrical noise. Our demonstration of stochastic resonance at the level of a vital animal behaviour, feeding, which has probably evolved for functional success, provides evidence that stochastic resonance in sensory nervous systems is an evolutionary adaptation.     

Categorization of behavioural sequences in the prefrontal cortex

Although it has long been thought that the prefrontal cortex of primates is involved in the integrative regulation of behaviours, the neural architecture underlying specific aspects of cognitive behavioural planning has yet to be clarified. If subjects are required to remember a large number of complex motor sequences and plan to execute each of them individually, categorization of the sequences according to the specific temporal structure inherent in each subset of sequences serves to facilitate higher-order planning based on memory. Here we show, using these requirements, that cells in the lateral prefrontal cortex selectively exhibit activity for a specific category of behavioural sequences, and that categories of behaviours, embodied by different types of movement sequences, are represented in prefrontal cells during the process of planning. This cellular activity implies the generation of neural representations capable of storing structured event complexes at an abstract level, exemplifying the development of macro-structured action knowledge in the lateral prefrontal cortex.     

Cerebellar GABAA receptor selective for a behavioural alcohol antagonist

Benzodiazepines are widely prescribed anxiolytics and anticonvulsants which bind with high affinity to sites on the GABAA receptor/Cl- channel complex and potentiate the effect of the neurotransmitter GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid). The heterogeneity of benzodiazepine recognition sites in the central nervous system was revealed by studies showing different classes of GABAA receptor subunits (classes alpha, beta and gamma) and variant subunits in these classes, particularly in the alpha-class. Expression of recombinant subunits produces functional receptors; when certain alpha-variants are coexpressed with beta- and gamma-subunits the resulting receptors have pharmacological properties characteristic of GABAA-benzodiazepine type I or type II receptors. The alpha-variants are differentially expressed in the central nervous system and can be photoaffinity-labelled with benzodiazepines. Here we report a novel alpha-subunit (alpha 6) of cerebellar granule cells. We show that recombinant receptors composed of alpha 6, beta 2 and gamma 2 subunits bind with high affinity to the GABA agonist [3H]muscimol and the benzodiazepine [3H]Ro15-4513 but not the other benzodiazepines or beta-carboniles. The same distinctive pharmacology is observed with GABAA receptors from rat cerebellum immunoprecipitated by an antiserum specific for the alpha 6 subunit. We conclude that this alpha-subunit is part of a cerebellar receptor subtype, selective for Ro15-4513, an antagonist of alcohol-induced motor incoordination and ataxia.     

Carboxy terminus of vasopressin required for activity but not binding

Vasopressin antagonists are valuable pharmacological tools for investigating physiological and behavioural functions of the nonapeptide arginine-vasopressin (AVP). The removal of glycinamide from the carboxy terminus of AVP drastically reduces its characteristic vasopressor and antidiuretic activities. In contrast to this we show here that removal of the carboxy-terminal glycinamide or the glycine at position 9 from several vasopressin antagonists makes little difference to their ability to block vasopressor and antidiuretic responses to AVP. These data demonstrate the critical structural requirements of the carboxy-terminal position for receptor activation, in contrast to the lack of such requirements for receptor binding. They also provide an avenue to a wide variety of antagonists substituted at the carboxy terminus (for example radiolabelled derivatives and affinity ligands) and suggest clues for the development of more potent and/or selective antagonists.     

磁性靶丸悬浮磁场的研究

在提高ICF能量增益的研究中,针对靶丸磁悬浮系统的结构,从磁偶板子的磁场分布开始,推导出悬浮磁场中的磁场分布情况,为磁悬浮系统的非线性精确控制提供了磁场分布的修正,提高系统控制的稳定性。     

采样时钟抖动对超宽带脉冲雷达目标检测性能的影响

信号采样是超宽带脉冲雷达接收的关键环节,其中采样时钟抖动会引起ADC输出信噪比的下降,继而对雷达目标的检测性能产生一定影响,为此以雷达目标的检测性能为评价原则,研究了高斯白噪声环境中采样时钟抖动引起的信噪比损失,并以匹配滤波检测器和多样本能量积累检测器为对象,详细推导了采样时钟抖动与目标检测概率的关系.据此给出了输出信噪比损失的理论曲线,通过仿真对比分析了不同检测方法下采样时钟抖动对目标检测性能的影响,对超宽带脉冲雷达系统设计中的采样时钟选取有直接指导意义.     

Inhibition of the firing of vasopressin neurons by atriopeptin

Atriopeptin, the atrial natriuretic peptide, is a circulating hormone that is released from the atria of mammalian hearts in response to volume expansion and acts upon the kidneys, adrenal glands and vasculature to regulate fluid and electrolyte homeostasis. Atriopeptin is also present in the brain of the rat. Atriopeptin immunoreactive cell bodies and fibres are found in many areas known to be involved in the central regulation of the cardiovascular system, suggesting that it may be a neuromediator in the central control of fluid and electrolyte balance. The paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, which contains the cell bodies of neurons that secrete vasopressin from the posterior pituitary gland, receives a dense innervation from atriopeptin-like immunoreactive fibres. We have studied the effect of atriopeptin on the electrical activity of single neurons in the paraventricular nucleus of anaesthetized rats and found that atriopeptin is a potent inhibitor of putative vasopressin neurons. Atriopeptin, which has systemic actions that oppose those of vasopressin, may act as a neuromodulator in the brain to prevent vasopressin secretion.     

供热系统的集中运行调节

集中供热系统中，水温的调节至关重要，它是保证用户室内温度在任何室外温度下都能保持设计温度的关键。通过对比分析，着重介绍了分阶段改变流量的质调节方式的计算过程，指出这种调节方式是节约能源、使热用户室温相对稳定的调节方式。     

运动目标检测跟踪方法研究

研究了在简单背景下实现对单一运动目标识别跟踪,并给出了系统的原理图和结构图。介绍了利用帧差法实现对运动目标的识别,结合形态学中的开运算和闭运算对初识别后的二值图像进行双滤波,再对运动区域进行跟踪与标注,将运动目标用矩形框包络起来。实验结果表明,该方法能够在简单场景下对运动目标进行实时识别跟踪,达到预想的效果。     

Rapid development of tolerance to the behavioural actions of cholecystokinin

Cholecystokinin (CCK) acts acutely to inhibit food consumption in fasted rats, mice, sheep, pigs, monkeys and humans. CCK has been proposed as a satiety signal, inducing the behavioural sequence of satiety, or as an aversive internal stimulus, which inhibits food intake by inducing malaise. Reductions in food intake and related exploratory behaviours are initiated by CCK at its peripheral receptor in the gut, which appears to transmit sensory feedback via the vagus nerve to brain regions mediating appetitive behaviours. The therapeutic potential of CCK as an appetite suppressant in obesity syndromes rests on the demonstration of significant, long-lasting body weight reduction. Chronic CCK administration by repeated injections is problematic, since this peptide is rapidly degraded in vivo. We chose the Alzet constant infusion osmotic minipump to investigate possible alterations in body weight and food intake during continuous infusion of CCK. We now report that no change was detected in either body weight or total daily food consumption at any time point during 2 weeks of intraperitoneally (i.p.) infused CCK. The mechanism underlying the lack of chronic CCK effects appears to be a rapid development of behavioural tolerance. Acute challenge doses of CCK which induced satiety-related behaviours in saline-infused rats were ineffective in CCK-infused rats. The behavioural tolerance was apparent within a few hours of minipump implantation. These results provide the first evidence that rapid and reversible tolerance develops to the actions of a gut peptide.     

隐身目标探测方法研究

介绍了一种探测隐身目标的实现方法．以双基地雷达为例，通过讨论雷达的有效散射截面RCS与雷达作用距离的关系^[1]，将接收机部署在探测隐身目标的前沿，使整个探测系统可在较远的距离上发现隐身目标．对于接收机收到的目标回波信号比较微弱，噪声相对较大，对于隐身目标的信号检测，可以采用对小信号的预处理，数据采集，进行分析处理^[2]．文中给出了理论依据，建立了模型，并通过MATLAB语言进行计算机模拟仿真，给出一些结果，说明其可行性．