The ever-changing electrical synapse

The ever-changing landscape of rotavirus serotypes.

Rotavirus is a double-stranded RNA virus that is characterized by substantial genetic diversity. The various serotypes of rotavirus have been determined by the presence of neutralizing epitopes on the outer capsid of the protein shell. At present, 5 rotavirus serotypes (G1, G2, G3, G4, G9) are the predominant circulating strains, accounting for approximately 95% of strains worldwide, although t...

Parasite Diagnostics, an Ever-Changing World

Electrical Inexcitability of the Frog Neuromuscular Synapse

Frog muscle endplates were explored with an extracellular microelectrode. An intracellular microelectrode nearby simultaneously monitored invasion of the endplate by a spike directly evoked by a third microelectrode placed away from the endplate in the same fiber. External positivities were seen only at sites generating miniature endplate potentials. The external positivity reached a maximum pr...

The synapse: from electrical to chemical transmission.

The controversy as to whether synaptic transmission in the central nervous system is electrical or chemical played a key role in the origin of modern neuroscience, and I shall attempt to give it a historical perspective. Almost 100 years ago (1886--1890) it was recognized by several neuroanatomists, including His, Ford, and Ram6n y Cajal, that nerve cells or neurons were independent biological ...

Insulin Delivery: An Ever Changing Frontier

Insulin transport across vascular endothelial cells is the rate limiting step in its time action profile. Glucose uptake in response to insulin is estimated through different techniques and is influenced by insulin sensitivity of the tissue. Glucose clamp technique and minimal model imply an incremental increase in the levels of insulin in the ISF compartment evidenced by increase in glucose up...