A novel member of the opioid receptor family (ORL-1) has been cloned from a variety of vertebrates. ORL-1 does not bind any of the classical opioids, although a high affinity endogenous agonist with close homology to dynorphin has recently been identified. We have generated a monoclonal antibody to the N-terminus of ORL-1 to map areas of receptor expression in rat central nervous system (CNS). Intense and specific immunolabeling was observed in multiple areas in the diencephalon, mesencephalon, pons/medulla, and spinal cord. In the telencephalon, intense labeling was observed in the neuropil throughout layers II-V in the neocortex, the anterior olfactory nuclear complex, the pyriform cortex, the CA1-CA4 fields and dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, and in many of the septal and basal forebrain areas. In contrast to other members of the opioid receptor family, light labeling for ORL-1 was observed in telencephalic areas such as caudate-putamen. In the cerebellum, ORL-1 immunoreactivity was only observed in the deep nuclei. Throughout the CNS the majority of labelling was localized to fiber processes and fine puncta, although labeled scattered perikarya were observed in a few brain areas such as the hilus dentate in the hippocampus and some nuclei in the brainstem and spinal cord. The present mapping study is consistent with the reported distribution of ORL-1 mRNA and provides the first immunohistochemical report on anatomical and cellular distribution of ORL-1 receptor in the rat CNS.

We present experimental results from the first systematic study of performance scaling with drive parameters for a magnetoinertial fusion concept. In magnetized liner inertial fusion experiments, the burnaveraged ion temperature doubles to 3.1 keV and the primary deuterium-deuterium neutron yield increases by more than an order of magnitude to 1.1 × 10 13 (2 kJ deuterium-tritium equivalent) through a simultaneous increase in the applied magnetic field (from 10.4 to 15.9 T), laser preheat energy (from 0.46 to 1.2 kJ), and current coupling (from 16 to 20 MA). Individual parametric scans of the initial magnetic field and laser preheat energy show the expected trends, demonstrating the importance of magnetic insulation and the impact of the Nernst effect for this concept. A drive-current scan shows that present experiments operate close to the point where implosion stability is a limiting factor in performance, demonstrating the need to raise fuel pressure as drive current is increased. Simulations that capture these experimental trends indicate that another order of magnitude increase in yield on the Z facility is possible with additional increases of input parameters.

Pulsed power accelerators compress electrical energy in space and time to provide versatile experimental platforms for high energy density and inertial confinement fusion science. The 80-TW “Z” pulsed power facility at Sandia National Laboratories is the largest pulsed power device in the world today. Z discharges up to 22 MJ of energy stored in its capacitor banks into a current pulse that rises in 100 ns and peaks at a current as high as 30 MA in low-inductance cylindrical targets. Considerable progress has been made over the past 15 years in the use of pulsed power as a precision scientific tool. This paper reviews developments at Sandia in inertial confinement fusion, dynamic materials science, x-ray radiation science, and pulsed power engineering, with an emphasis on progress since a previous review of research on Z in Physics of Plasmas in 2005.

Beams of neutrinos have been proposed as a vehicle for communications under unusual circumstances, such as direct point-to-point global communication, communication with submarines, secure communications and interstellar communication. We report on the performance of a low-rate communications link established using the NuMI beam line and the MINERvA detector at Fermilab. The link achieved a decoded data rate of 0.1 bits/sec with a bit error rate of 1% over a distance of 1.035 km, including 240 m of earth.

It is known that opioid peptides acting on opioid receptors can modulate hippocampal synaptic functions. Although a novel member of the opioid receptor family, ORL1 receptors, that displays high-sequence homology with classical opioid receptors is abundant in the hippocampus, little is known regarding its role in synaptic function. The present study was designed to investigate whether activation of the ORL1 receptor by its natural ligand, orphanin FQ, could modulate synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. The actions of orphanin FQ in the CA1 and dentate gyrus were examined by field potential recordings in response to stimulation of Schaffer collaterals and perforant path, respectively. Our results showed that orphanin FQ, but not the inactive analog des-Phe1-orphanin FQ, reduced both the slope of the excitatory postsynaptic potentials and population spike amplitude. The inhibitory effect of orphanin FQ is dose dependent and probably involves a presynaptic mechanism, as suggested by the significantly increased paired-pulse facilitation evoked in the presence of orphanin FQ. In addition, orphanin FQ was found to inhibit the induction of long-term potentiation at the Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapse. These results demonstrate that orphanin FQ can function as an inhibitory modulator regulating synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus, suggesting that activation of ORL1 receptors may play an important role in synaptic plasticity involved in learning and memory.