title: Adrenergic modulation of a cholinergic emotional reaction in the cat's thalamus.
abstract: Direct carbachol stimulation of the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus evokes an affective defense reaction in the cat. Pretreatment of the region with noradrenaline inhibited the reaction in a dose-related manner. Phenylephrine was ineffective in this respect while isoprenaline exhibited roughly the same inhibitory action as noradrenaline. The alpha-receptor blocking dihydroergotamine left the inhibitory effect of noradrenaline unaffected while the beta-receptor blocking propranolol abolished it. These findings suggest that the inhibitory effect of noradrenaline on the carbachol-induced thalamic emotional reaction is caused by its influence on beta-type adrenergic receptors. Since a similar adrenergic-cholinergic interaction was previously demonstrated also for the hypothalamus and red nucleus, it can be concluded that adrenergic modulation of cholinergic reactions in the central nervous sytem seems to be a principle of more general validity than has been assumed thus far.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002217:Carbachol / Q000494:pharmacology; D002415:Cats; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010275:Parasympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D013564:Sympathetic Nervous System / Q000502:physiology*; D013788:Thalamus / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002217:Carbachol