Function
It is related to many functions via its widespread projections. The LC-NA system modulates cortical, subcortical, cerebellar, brainstem and spinal cord circuits. Some of the most important functions influenced by this system are :
Neuroplasticity
Arousal and sleep-wake cycle
Attention and memory
Emotions
Behavioral flexibility, behavioral inhibition and stress (psychological)
Posture and balance.
The locus coeruleus may figure in clinical depression, panic disorder, and anxiety. Some medications including norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (reboxetine, atomoxetine), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (venlafaxine, duloxetine), and norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitors (bupropion) are believed to show efficacy by acting upon neurons in this area.
Read more about this topic: Locus Coeruleus
Famous quotes containing the word function:
“Every boy was supposed to come into the world equipped with a father whose prime function was to be our father and show us how to be men. He can escape us, but we can never escape him. Present or absent, dead or alive, real or imagined, our father is the main man in our masculinity.”
—Frank Pittman (20th century)
“Think of the tools in a tool-box: there is a hammer, pliers, a saw, a screwdriver, a rule, a glue-pot, nails and screws.—The function of words are as diverse as the functions of these objects.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)
“The mother’s and father’s attitudes toward the child correspond to the child’s own needs.... Mother has the function of making him secure in life, father has the function of teaching him, guiding him to cope with those problems with which the particular society the child has been born into confronts him.”
—Erich Fromm (1900–1980)