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:
“Uses are always much broader than functions, and usually far less contentious. The word function carries overtones of purpose and propriety, of concern with why something was developed rather than with how it has actually been found useful. The function of automobiles is to transport people and objects, but they are used for a variety of other purposes—as homes, offices, bedrooms, henhouses, jetties, breakwaters, even offensive weapons.”
—Frank Smith (b. 1928)
“Literature does not exist in a vacuum. Writers as such have a definite social function exactly proportional to their ability as writers. This is their main use.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“The intension of a proposition comprises whatever the proposition entails: and it includes nothing else.... The connotation or intension of a function comprises all that attribution of this predicate to anything entails as also predicable to that thing.”
—Clarence Lewis (1883–1964)