The 2014 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine was awarded for the discoveries that have elucidated the components of the internal positioning system that is centered on the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. Here I provide a less than objective discussion of the importance of these accomplishments to systems neuroscience. By identifying positioning components like place, direction, distance,...
Marijuana and hashish are the illicit drugs most frequently used by human adolescents. Given the continued neurodevelopment throughout adolescence, adolescents may be more vulnerable than adults to certain neural consequences of heavy marijuana use. This study aimed to assess whether an experimental model of adolescent chronic exposure to Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may induce lasting...
N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor hypofunction is associated with a range of effects on cognition and behavior in whole animal and human studies. NMDA receptor hypofunction within the brain, which can be induced experimentally in vivo using NMDA receptor antagonist drugs, produces adverse effects on memory function. The results suggest that NMDA receptor hypofunction can preferentially...
NMDA antagonists provide the best pharmacological model of psychosis-related schizophrenia. Data from circuit analysis of the effects of the antagonism of NMDA receptors in the CA1 region of the hippocampus of rats in vitro suggest a hypothesis concerning cortical circuit dysfunction responsible for NMDA antagonist-dependent psychosis, relevant to the psychosis associated with schizophrenia....