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Norepinephrine and Synaptic Transmission in the Cerebellum

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Essentials of Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders

Abstract

Although the presence of norepinephrine (NE) in the mammalian cerebellum was initially controversial, there is now substantial evidence of a role for the NE system in modulating the response properties of individual cerebellar neurons to synaptic inputs rather than transmitting moment-to-moment details of modality specific information. As a result of these cellular actions the system is capable of regulating cerebellar circuit functions within the context of ongoing voluntary and reflex motor activities and in a manner appropriate to the behavioral state of the organism. The evidence for this mode of operation derives from extensive anatomical, physiological and pharmacological investigations over a period of more than 40 years. This chapter summarizes those studies and the development of this concept.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Stress Neurobiology, Department of Anesthesiology, Abramson Research Center, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, 3416 Civic Center Blvd., Suite 402A, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, USA

    Gerard Zitnik

  2. Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, Translational Research Laboratories, University of Pennsylvania, 125 S 31st Street, Philadelphia, PA, 191043, USA

    Daniel J. Chandler

  3. Department of Neurobiology and Anatomy, Drexel University College of Medicine, 2900 Queen Lane, Philadelphia, PA, 19129, USA

    Barry D. Waterhouse

Authors
  1. Gerard Zitnik
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  2. Daniel J. Chandler
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  3. Barry D. Waterhouse
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barry D. Waterhouse .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience Department, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA

    Donna L. Gruol

  2. Department of Integrative Physiology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan

    Noriyuki Koibuchi

  3. FNRS, ULB-Erasme, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Mario Manto

  4. Clinical Translational Research, Santa Lucia Foundation, Rome, Italy

    Marco Molinari

  5. Ataxia Unit, Cognitive Behavioral Neurology Unit, Laboratory for Neuroanatomy and Cerebellar Neurobiology, Department of Neurology Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Jeremy D. Schmahmann

  6. Department of Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Ying Shen

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Zitnik, G., Chandler, D.J., Waterhouse, B.D. (2016). Norepinephrine and Synaptic Transmission in the Cerebellum. In: Gruol, D., Koibuchi, N., Manto, M., Molinari, M., Schmahmann, J., Shen, Y. (eds) Essentials of Cerebellum and Cerebellar Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24551-5_30

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