DOPAMINE D-1 RECEPTOR MECHANISMS IN THE COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG-ADULT AND AGED MONKEYS

Dopamine (DA) D-1 receptor compounds were examined in monkeys for effects on the working memory functions of the prefrontal cortex and on the fine motor abilities of the primary motor cortex. The D-1 antagonist, SCH23390, the partial D-1 agonist, SKF38393, and the full D-1 agonist, dihydrexidine, were characterized in young control monkeys, and in aged monkeys with naturally occurring catecholamine depletion. In addition, SKF38393 was tested in young monkeys experimentally depleted of catecholamines with chronic reserpine treatment. Injections of SCH23390 significantly impaired the memory performance of young control monkeys, but did not impair aged monkeys with presumed catecholamine depletion. Conversely, the partial agonist, SKF38393, improved the depleted monkeys (aged or reserpine-treated) but did not improve young control animals. The full agonist, dihydrexidine, did improve memory performance in young control monkeys, as well as in a subset of aged monkeys. Consistent with D, receptor mechanisms, agonist-induced improvements were blocked by SCH23390. Drug effects on memory performance occurred independently of effects on fine motor performance. These results underscore the importance of DA D-1 mechanisms in cognitive function, and provide functional evidence of DA system degeneration in aged monkeys. Finally, high doses of D-1 agonists impaired memory performance in aged monkeys, suggesting that excessive D-1 stimulation may be deleterious to cognitive function.

DOPAMINE D2 RECEPTOR MECHANISMS CONTRIBUTE TO AGE-RELATED COGNITIVE DECLINE - THE EFFECTS OF QUINPIROLE ON MEMORY AND MOTOR-PERFORMANCE IN MONKEYS

The D2 dopamine (DA) receptor agonist, quinpirole, was characterized in young adult monkeys, young reserpine-treated monkeys and aged monkeys to assess the contribution of DA to age-related loss of prefrontal cortical (PFC) cognitive function, Monkeys were tested on a delayed response memory task that depends on the PFC, and a fine motor task that taps the functions of the motor cortex, In young adult monkeys, low quinpirole doses impaired performance of the PFC and fine motor tasks, while higher doses improved memory performance and induced dyskinesias and ''hallucinatory-like'' behaviors. The pattern of the quinpirole response in reserpine-treated monkeys suggested that the impairments in delayed response and fine motor performance resulted from drug actions at D2 autoreceptors, while the improvement in delayed response performance, dyskinesias and ''hallucinatory-like'' behaviors resulted from actions at postsynaptic receptors. In aged monkeys, low doses of quinpirole continued to impair fine motor performance, but lost their ability to impair delayed response performance. The magnitude of cognitive improvement and the incidence of ''hallucinatory-like'' behaviors were also reduced in the aged animals, suggesting some loss of postsynaptic D2 receptor function, The pattern of results is consistent with the greater loss of DA from the PFC than from motor areas in aged monkey brain (Goldman-Rakic and Brown, 1981; Wenk et al., 1989), and indicates that DA depletion contributes significantly to age-related cognitive decline.

Research on the influence of fabrication parameters on the performance of buried ion-exchanged glass waveguides using the variational method

The variational method is proposed to analyze the influence of the fabrication parameters on the performance of buried K+-Na+ ion-exchanged Er3+-Yb3+ ions co-doped glass waveguide. The unknown parameters of the Hermite-Gaussian functions as the trial field distribution are determined based on the scalar variational principle. It is demonstrated that the results calculated in this paper agree with those measured in the experiment. The mode dimensions, the effective refractive index, and the overlap factor as the functions of the fabrication parameters are investigated. These results of the variational analysis are useful for the design and optimization of Er3+-Yb3+ ions co-doped waveguides.

A high-performance Si-based MOS electrooptic phase modulator with a shunt-capacitor configuration

A novel Si-based metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) electrooptic phase modulator including two shunt oxide layer capacitors integrated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide is simulated and analyzed. The refractive index near the two gate oxide layers is modified by the free carrier dispersion effect induced by applying a positive bias on the electrodes. The theoretical calculation of free carrier distribution coupled with optical guided mode propagation characteristics has been carried out. The influence of the structure parameters such as the width and the doping level of the active region are analyzed. A half-wave voltage V-pi = 4 V is demonstrated with an 8-mm active region length and a 4-mu m width of an inner rib under an accumulation mode. When decreasing the inner rib width to 1 mu m, the phase modulation efficiency is even higher, and the rise and fall times reach 50 and 40 ps, respectively, with a 1.0 x 10(17) cm(-3) doping level in the active region.

Small-signal and large-signal performance test of high-speed optoelectronics devices

This paper presents measurement methods for determining the reflection coefficients and frequency responses of semiconductor laser diodes, photodiodes, and EA modulator chips. A novel method for determining the intrinsic frequency responses of laser diodes is also proposed, and applications of the developed measurement methods are discussed. We demonstrate the compensation of bonding wire on the capacitances of both the submount and the laser diode, and present a method for estimating the potential modulation bandwidth of TO packaging technique. Initial study on removing the effects of test fixture on large-signal performances of optoelectronic devices at high data rate is also given.

A high performance Time-of-Flight detector applied to isochronous mass measurement at CSRe

A high performance Time-of-Flight detector has been designed and constructed for isochronous mass spectrometry at the experimental Cooler Storage Ring (CSRe) The detector has been successfully used in an experiment to measure the masses of the N approximate to Z approximate to 33 nuclides near the proton drip-line Of particular interest is the mass of As-65 A maximum detection efficiency of 70% and a time resolution of 118 +/- 8 Ps (FWHM) have been achieved in the experiment The dependence of detection efficiency and signal average pulse height (APH) on atomic number Z has been studied The potential of APH for Z identification has been discussed (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

Improvement of amplified spontaneous emission performance by doping tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (Alq3) in dye-doped polymer thin films

A well-known red fluorescent dye 4-(dicy-anomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)4H-pyran (DCJTB) was codoped with an electron transport organic molecule tris(8-hydroxyquinohne) aluminum (Alq3) in a host matrix of polystyrene (PS), and the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) was studied by optically pumping. It was found that the ASE performance was significantly improved by the introduction of Alq3. The Alq3:DCJTB:PS blending thin films showed a low threshold (2.4 mu J/pulse) and a high net gain coefficient (109.95 cm(-1)) compared with the pure DCJTB:PS system (threshold of 15.2 mu J/pulse and gain of 35.94 cm(-1)). The improvement of the ASE performance was considered to be attributable to the effective Foster energy transfer from Alq(3) to DCJTB. Our results demonstrate that the Alq(3):DCJTB could be a promising candidate as gain medium for red organic diode lasers.

Improved amplified spontaneous emission by doping of green fluorescent dye C545T in red fluorescent dye DCJTB : PS polymer films

Amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) characteristics of a red fluorescent dye, 4-(dicy-anomethylene)-2-t-butyl-6(1,1,7,7-tetramethyljulolidyl-9-enyl)-4H-pyran (DCJTB), and a green fluorescent dye, (10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1H,5H,11H-[1] benzopyrano [6,7,8-ij]quinohzin-11-one) (C545T) codoped polystyrene (PS) as the active medium were studied. It was found that the performance of ASE is greatly improved due to the introduction of C545T. By optimizing the concentrations of C545T and DCJTB in PS, an ASE threshold of 0.016 mJ pulse(-1), net gain of 52.71 cm(-1), and loss of 11.7 cm(-1) were obtained. The efficient Forster energy transfer from C545T to DCJTB was used to explain the improvement of the ASE performance in the coguest system.

NMR-STUDY ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MISCIBILITY AND ANTIAGING PERFORMANCE OF BLENDS CONTAINING BLOCK-COPOLYMERS

The anti-aging performance of blends of polystyrene (PS), styrene-butadiene triblock copolymers (SBS), and PS/styrene-butadiene (SB)-4A (Carm star SE block copolymer) has been studied by means of C-13 NMR techniques. It is found that the anti-aging performance of these kinds of blends largely depends on their miscibility with PS of different molecular weight M(PS). The larger the quantities of PS solubilized in polybutadiene (PBD) domains, the better the anti-aging performance of the blends. It is also found that the anti-aging performance of these blends has dependence on molecular architectures of the SE block copolymers. For the aged blends, the double bonds of PBD were broken, meanwhile serious cross-linking networks formed in the blends. The proposed anti-aging mechanism is that the PS solubilized in PBD domains can efficiently prevent oxygen molecules from diffusing into PBD domains, therefore, successfully stop the oxidative process of PBD.