In this study, retinal waves were also recorded in transgenic mice where cholinergic neurotransmission was inhibited in most of the retina.
Our results favor a model where serotonergic neurons act with cholinergic neurons to promote contraction of male-specific muscles and ventral tail curling.
We propose a model where the SPC, via direct cholinergic signaling to the gonad (Jarrell et al., 2012), triggers the initiation of ejaculation.
In a mouse model where Hand2 is deleted in a specific subset of ENCDCs (123), precursor proliferation, gliogenesis, and the specification of many (cholinergic, nitrinergic, and calretinin-expressing), but not all, neuronal subtypes were impaired within the population derived from Hand2-deleted ENCDCs.
Using genetics to generate mouse models of cholinergic deficiency is equally challenging.
There have been several attempts to generate animal models of cholinergic dysfunction by elimination of cholinergic neurons using electrolytic or excitotoxic methods, which are nonselective and destroy indistinctly both noncholinergic and cholinergic neurons, as well by the more selective strategy of cholinergic immunolesion, which preferentially destroy cholinergic neurons [1].
In particular, NGF has the ability to reverse deficits in numerous models of cholinergic deafferentiation [ 18– 218.
In experimental disease models, the cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway, a vagus nerve-dependent mechanism, inhibits HMGB1 release [ 73].
Although we did not model explicitly cholinergic interneurons in the striatum, their effects on MSN neurons were implemented using the following equation: where 5HT2CM1adj is a coupling parameter that is determined during recalibration, 5HTXAct is the activation of the 5-HTX receptor with drug, and 5HTXCon is the activation of the 5-HTX receptor in control situations.
Therefore, these models predict that cholinergic stimulation should enhance encoding and reduce retrieval.
