Diverse nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes containing different subunit combinations can be placed on nerve terminals or soma/dendrites in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). nAChR α6 subunit message is abundant in the VTA, but α6*-nAChR cellular localization, function, pharmacology, and roles in cholinergic modulation of dopaminergic (DA) neurons within the VTA are not well unders...

Cortical GABAergic dysfunction, a hallmark of both schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar (BP) disorder pathophysiologies may relate to the hypermethylation of GABAergic gene promoters (i.e., reelin and GAD67). Benefits elicited by a combination of atypical antipsychotics with valproate (VPA) (a histone deacetylase inhibitor that may also activate brain DNA demethylation) in SZ or BP disorder treatment...

In cortical neurons, pore-forming alpha-subunits of the Kv4 subfamily underlie the fast transient outward K+ current (I(A)). Considerable evidence has accumulated demonstrating specific roles for I(A) channels in the generation of individual action potentials and in the regulation of repetitive firing. Although I(A) channels are thought to play a role in synaptic processing, little is known abo...

1. The piriform cortex (PC) is the largest subdivision of the olfactory cortex and the first cortical destination of olfactory information. Despite the relatively simple anatomy of the PC and its obvious appeal as a model system for the study of cortical sensory processing, there are many outstanding questions about its basic cell physiology. In the present article, we review what is known abou...

When rat fetuses grew from embryonic day (E) 18 to the day of birth (P0), the corticothalamic (CT) neurons, as identified by back labeling with 1,1'-dioctadecyl-3,3,3',3'-tetramethylindocarbocyanine (DiI), in the somatosensory cortex underwent gradual changes in the shape of their cell bodies, in their distribution in the cortical plate and in the complexity of dendritic branching. Fluorescence...

BACKGROUND Previous work has suggested, but not demonstrated directly, a critical role for both glutamatergic and GABAergic neurons of the pontine tegmentum in the regulation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To determine the in vivo roles of these fast-acting neurotransmitters in putative REM pontine circuits, we injected an adeno-associated viral vector expre...

The release of the hormones oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (VP) into the circulation is dictated by the electrical activity of hypothalamic magnocellular neurosecretory cells (MNCs). In the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN), MNC neuronal activity is exquisitely sensitive to changes in input from inhibitory GABAergic synapses. To explore the hypothesis that efficacy at these synap...

The seminal studies by von Economo in humans (1) and by Nauta (2) in rats implicated specific basal forebrain areas at the preoptic level as important in sleep regulation. In the last two decades, studies employing recording of single neurons and monitoring of sleep parameters with subsequent chemical and electron microscopic identification of the synaptic input-output relations of these record...

3 ABSTRACT The nerve cell cytoskeleton is essential for regulation of intrinsic neuronal activity. For example, neuronal migration defects are associated with microtubule regulators, such as LIS1 and dynein, as well as actin regulators, including Rac GTPases and integrins, and have been thought to underlie epileptic seizures in patients with cortical malformations. However, it is plausible that...

Nerve growth factor (NGF) has been implicated in maintaining and regulating normal functioning of the septohippocampal pathway. However, many aspects of its physiological actions and the underlying mechanisms await elucidation. In this study, we investigated the effect of acute NGF exposure on neurons in the mouse medial septum/diagonal band of Broca (MS/DB), focusing on the cholinergic neurons...