Locus coeruleus, spelled locus caeruleus or locus ceruleus, is a nucleus in the pons of the brainstem involved with physiological responses to stress and panic.
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13 Facts About Locus coeruleus
2.
Locus coeruleus is located in the posterior area of the rostral pons in the lateral floor of the fourth ventricle.
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3.
Locus coeruleus receives inputs from a number of other brain regions, primarily:.
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4.
Projections from the locus coeruleus consist of neurons that utilize norepinephrine as their primary neurotransmitter.
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5.
Locus coeruleus is a part of the reticular activating system, and is almost completely inactivated in rapid eye movement sleep.
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6.
Locus coeruleus is responsible for mediating many of the sympathetic effects during stress.
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7.
Psychiatric research has documented that enhanced noradrenergic postsynaptic responsiveness in the neuronal pathway that originates in the locus coeruleus and ends in the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala is a major factor in the pathophysiology of most stress-induced fear-circuitry disorders and especially in posttraumatic stress disorder .
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8.
The locus coeruleus is the major source of noradrenergic innervation in the brain and sends widespread connections to rostral and caudal brain areas and.
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9.
However, locus coeruleus cells are not dying but are more likely losing their fully mature phenotype, since no apoptotic neurons in the pons were detected.
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10.
Locus coeruleus ceruleus is affected in many forms of neurodegenerative diseases: genetic and idiopathic Parkinson's disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, Pick's disease or Alzheimer's disease.
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11.
Locus coeruleus was discovered in 1784 by Felix Vicq-d'Azyr, redescribed later by Johann Christian Reil in 1809 and named by the brothers Joseph and Karl Wenzel in 1812.
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12.
An important advance in understanding the anatomical organization of the locus coeruleus was the application of the Falck-Hillarp technique, which combines freeze-dried tissue and formaldehyde to cause catecholamines and serotonin to fluoresce in tissue sections.
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13.
The name of the locus coeruleus is derived from its azure appearance in unstained brain tissue.
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