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The α2‐subunit of the nicotinic cholinergic receptor is specifically expressed in medial subpallium‐derived cells of mammalian amygdala
Author(s) -
Pombero Ana,
Martinez Salvador
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.23754
Subject(s) - neuroscience , amygdala , basal forebrain , cholinergic , nicotinic agonist , nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , biology , forebrain , schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , cholinergic neuron , acetylcholine receptor , psychology , basolateral amygdala , receptor , central nervous system , psychiatry , genetics
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes are expressed in specific neuronal populations, which are involved in numerous neural functions such as sleep, fatigue, anxiety, and cognition, as well as the central processing of pain and food intake. Moreover, mutations in nAChRs subunits have been related to frontal lobe epilepsy, neurodegenerative diseases, and other neurological disorders, including schizophrenia and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous studies have shown that the α2‐subunit of the AChR (Chrna2) is expressed in the basal forebrain, in the septum, and in some amygdalar nuclei in the adult rodent brain. However, although the importance of this amygdalar expression in emotion‐related behavior and the physiopathology of neuropsychiatric disorders has been accepted, a detailed study of the Chrna2 expression pattern during development has been lacking. In this study we found that Chrna2 is specifically expressed in medial subpallium‐derived amygdalar nuclei from early developmental stages to adult. This finding could help us to better understand the role of Chrna2 in the differentiation and functional maturation of amygdalar neurons involved in cholinergic‐regulated emotional behavior. J. Comp. Neurol. 523:1608–1621, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.