Relationship between the central nervous system and the pineal gland and its hormone-melatonin

• Grant number: 97/09904-5
• Support Opportunities: Research Projects - Thematic Grants
• Start date: September 01, 1998
• End date: June 30, 2003
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems
• Principal Investigator: José Cipolla Neto
• Grantee: José Cipolla Neto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas (ICB). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Pesquisadores principais: Antonio Carlos Cassola ; Cristoforo Scavone

Abstract

The aim of this project is to study the relationship between the central nervous system and the pineal gland and its hormone-melatonin. In the part of the study dedicated to the neural control of the pineal metabolism two phenomena will be approached: 1) the daily profile of the main pineal indolic compounds (looking at they amplitude, mesor, and acrophase) and 2) the pineal gland metabolic reactivity to nocturnal retinal short term photic stimulation. These studies will be done in control intact animals as well as in ibotenic acid or electrolytic lesioned animals. In isolated cells from the central nervous system of intact or pinealectomized animals, we intend to study the action meltaonin on the cell metabolism and the ionic membrane currents (probed by patch clamp metodology). In addition, using the immunohistochemical c- fos detection we intend to study the neural reactivity to sistemic injection of melatonin in intact or pinealectomized rats. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

MOTA‚ S.R.; CANTERAS‚ N.S.; BARTOL‚ I.; SKORUPA‚ A.L.; SCIALFA‚ J.H.; TERRA‚ I.M.; AFECHE‚ S.C.; CIPOLLA-NETO‚ J.. Lesions of the dorsomedial hypothalamic nucleus do not influence the daily profile of pineal metabolism in rats. Neuroendocrinology, v. 73, n. 2, p. 123-128, 2001. (97/09904-5, 98/01761-3)

RIBEIRO-BARBOSA‚ É.R.; SKORUPA‚ A.L.; CIPOLLA-NETO‚ J.; CANTERAS‚ N.S.. Projections of the basal retrochiasmatic area: a neural site involved in the photic control of pineal metabolism. Brain Research, v. 839, n. 1, p. 35-40, 1999. (97/09904-5)

CIPOLLA-NETO‚ J.; SKORUPA‚ A.L.; RIBEIRO-BARBOSA‚ É.R.; BARTOL‚ I.; MOTA‚ S.R.; AFECHE‚ S.C.; DELAGRANGE‚ P.; GUARDIOLA-LEMAITRE‚ B.; CANTERAS‚ N.S.. The role of the retrochiasmatic area in the control of pineal metabolism. Neuroendocrinology, v. 69, n. 2, p. 97-104, 1999. (97/09904-5)