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Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs

The centrally-projecting Edinger–Westphal nucleus (EWcp) is a brain region distinct from the preganglionic Edinger–Westphal nucleus (EWpg). In contrast to the EWpg, the EWcp does not send projections to the ciliary ganglion and appears not to regulate oculomotor function. Instead, evidence is accumu...

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Autores principales: Zuniga, Alfredo, Ryabinin, Andrey E
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7071833/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31991932
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10020067
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author Zuniga, Alfredo
Ryabinin, Andrey E
author_facet Zuniga, Alfredo
Ryabinin, Andrey E
author_sort Zuniga, Alfredo
collection PubMed
description The centrally-projecting Edinger–Westphal nucleus (EWcp) is a brain region distinct from the preganglionic Edinger–Westphal nucleus (EWpg). In contrast to the EWpg, the EWcp does not send projections to the ciliary ganglion and appears not to regulate oculomotor function. Instead, evidence is accumulating that the EWcp is extremely sensitive to alcohol and several other drugs of abuse. Studies using surgical, genetic knockout, and shRNA approaches further implicate the EWcp in the regulation of alcohol sensitivity and self-administration. The EWcp is also known as the site of preferential expression of urocortin 1, a peptide of the corticotropin-releasing factor family. However, neuroanatomical data indicate that the EWcp is not a monotypic brain region and consists of several distinct subpopulations of neurons. It is most likely that these subpopulations of the EWcp are differentially involved in the regulation of actions of addictive drugs. This review summarizes and analyzes the current literature of the EWcp’s involvement in actions of drugs of abuse in male and female subjects in light of the accumulating evidence of complexities of this brain region.
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spelling pubmed-70718332020-03-19 Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs Zuniga, Alfredo Ryabinin, Andrey E Brain Sci Review The centrally-projecting Edinger–Westphal nucleus (EWcp) is a brain region distinct from the preganglionic Edinger–Westphal nucleus (EWpg). In contrast to the EWpg, the EWcp does not send projections to the ciliary ganglion and appears not to regulate oculomotor function. Instead, evidence is accumulating that the EWcp is extremely sensitive to alcohol and several other drugs of abuse. Studies using surgical, genetic knockout, and shRNA approaches further implicate the EWcp in the regulation of alcohol sensitivity and self-administration. The EWcp is also known as the site of preferential expression of urocortin 1, a peptide of the corticotropin-releasing factor family. However, neuroanatomical data indicate that the EWcp is not a monotypic brain region and consists of several distinct subpopulations of neurons. It is most likely that these subpopulations of the EWcp are differentially involved in the regulation of actions of addictive drugs. This review summarizes and analyzes the current literature of the EWcp’s involvement in actions of drugs of abuse in male and female subjects in light of the accumulating evidence of complexities of this brain region. MDPI 2020-01-26 /pmc/articles/PMC7071833/ /pubmed/31991932 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10020067 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Zuniga, Alfredo
Ryabinin, Andrey E
Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs
title Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs
title_full Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs
title_fullStr Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs
title_full_unstemmed Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs
title_short Involvement of Centrally Projecting Edinger–Westphal Nucleus Neuropeptides in Actions of Addictive Drugs
title_sort involvement of centrally projecting edinger–westphal nucleus neuropeptides in actions of addictive drugs
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7071833/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31991932
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/brainsci10020067
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