Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive potassium (KATP) channels, incorporating Kir6.x and sulfonylurea receptor subunits, are weak inward rectifiers that are thought to play a role in neuronal protection from ischemic insults. However, the involvement of Kir6.2-containing KATP channel in hippocampus and neocortex has not been tested directly. To delineate the physiological roles of Kir6.2 chan...

We describe a novel strategy to evaluate circuit function after brain injury that takes advantage of experience-dependent immediate early gene (IEG) expression. When normal rats undergo training or are exposed to a novel environment, there is a strong induction of IEG expression in forebrain regions, including the hippocampus. This gene induction identifies the neurons that are engaged during t...

The intracellular signaling pathways associated with neuronal injury after perforant pathway stimulation of the rodent hippocampus have not been examined. To determine whether activation of the p42/p44 (Erk1/2) MAP kinase (MAPK) phosphorylation cascade is linked to neuronal injury after perforant pathway stimulation (PPS), we stained for phosphorylated Erk1/2 (P-Erk1/2) and for DNA fragmentatio...

Determining how long-range synaptic inputs engage pyramidal neurons in primary motor cortex (M1) is important for understanding circuit mechanisms involved in regulating movement. We used channelrhodopsin-2-assisted circuit mapping to characterize the long-range excitatory synaptic connections made by multiple cortical and thalamic areas onto pyramidal neurons in mouse vibrissal motor cortex (v...

Purpose: To study the effect of dexmedetomidine (Dex) on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI), and associated mechanism action.Methods: Sixty Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were assigned to sham, (I/R), Dex, MD groups (methyllycaconitine prior injection with Dex), 15 in each group. Pathological changes tissues determined all groups. Protein expression levels HMGB1, TLR4, NF-κB myeloid differ...

The present study provides an experimental model of the apoptotic death of pyramidal neurons in rat olfactory cortex after total bulbectomy. Terminal transferase (TdT)-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate (d-UTP)-biotin nick end labeling (TUNEL), DNA electrophoresis, and neuronal ultrastructure were used to provide evidence of apoptosis; neurons in olfactory cortex were counted by stereology. Max...

This is the concluding article in a series of 3 studies that investigate the anatomical determinants of thalamocortical (TC) input to excitatory neurons in a cortical column of rat primary somatosensory cortex (S1). We used viral synaptophysin-enhanced green fluorescent protein expression in thalamic neurons and reconstructions of biocytin-labeled cortical neurons in TC slices to quantify the n...

The regional selectivity and mechanisms underlying the toxicity of the serine/threonine protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid (OA) were investigated in hippocampal slice cultures. Image analysis of propidium iodide-labeled cultures revealed that okadaic acid caused a dose- and time-dependent injury to hippocampal neurons. Pyramidal cells in the CA3 region and granule cells in the dentate g...