Primary cultures of neurons from the visual cortex of 7-10-d-old Long Evans rats were used to study the pharmacology of synaptic transmission. Dissociated cells were grown either in mass cultures, which contained 8000-10,000 neurons, or in miniature island cultures of 50-100 cells. Prior to dissociation, cells in layer V of visual cortex that project to the superior colliculus were labeled in v...

site-directed mutagenesis (sdm) as a powerful technique was used to change two important and conserved amino acids in 5-enolpyruvylshikimate 3- phosphate synthase (epsps) gene of e. coli. the mutations changed glycine 96 to alanine and alanine 183 to threonine. these two amino acids are very important for intraction of the wide spectrum herbicide, glyphosate, to epsp synthase enzymes. by design...

Bath application of methylmercury (MeHg) causes an early stimulation before block of synaptic transmission in the CA1 region of hippocampal slices. Effects of MeHg and Hg++ on inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) or currents (IPSCs) and excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) or currents (EPSCs) were compared to test whether or not early block by MeHg of GABA(A)-mediated inhibitory syn...

This study examined the effects of selective activation of kappa 1-opioid receptors on excitatory transmission in substantia gelatinosa (SG) using intracellular recordings from SG neurons in transverse slices of the young rat lumbar spinal cord. Monosynaptic and polysynaptic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) were evoked by orthodromic electrical stimulation of A delta or C primary affe...

We examined the attenuation and integration of spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic potentials (sEPSPs) in the dendrites of presumed motoneurons (MNs) of organotypic rat spinal cord cultures. Simultaneous whole cell recordings in current-clamp mode were made from either the soma and a dendrite or from two dendrites. Direct comparison of the two voltage recordings revealed that the membrane poten...

The gene transfer from glyphosate tolerant soybean to Bradyrhizobium japonicum was evaluated in a free-air lysimeter experiment under natural conditions and increasing selection pressure, to monitor for the probability of horizontal gene transfer (HGT). A large volume lysimeter study that offers conditions comparable to normal farming was conducted in 2004 and 2005 with Roundup Ready® (RR) soyb...

To determine whether ketone bodies sustain neuronal function as energy substrates, we examined the effects of beta-hydroxybutyrate (betaHB) on synaptic transmission and morphological integrity during glucose deprivation in rat hippocampal slices. After the depression of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) by 60 min of glucose deprivation, administration of 0.5-10 mM D-betaHB restored EPS...