Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) are involved in modulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity. Group II mGluRs in the spinal cord regulate glutamatergic input, but their functional changes in neuropathic pain are not clear. In this study, we determined the plasticity of spinal group II mGluRs in controlling excitatory and inhibitory synaptic transmission and nociception in neurop...

Chronic global N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) blockade leads to changes in glutamatergic transmission. The impact of more subunit-selective NMDAR inhibition on glutamatergic circuits remains incomplete. To this end, organotypic hippocampal slice cultures were treated for 17-21 days with the high-affinity competitive antagonist d-aminophosphonovaleric acid (d-APV), the allosteric GluN2B-s...

Overexpression or mutation of α-synuclein (α-Syn), a protein associated with presynaptic vesicles, causes familial forms of Parkinson's disease in humans and is also associated with sporadic forms of the disease. We used in vivo microdialysis, tissue content analysis, behavioral assessment, and whole-cell patch clamp recordings from striatal medium-sized spiny neurons (MSSNs) in slices to exami...

18 In vitro and in vivo traumatic brain injury (TBI) alter the function and expression of glutamate 19 receptors, yet the combined effect of these alterations on cortical excitatory synaptic 20 transmission is unclear. We examined the effect of in vitro mechanical injury on excitatory 21 synaptic function in cultured cortical neurons by assaying synaptically-driven [Ca]i oscillations 22 in smal...

Protease-activated receptors 2 (PAR2) and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) receptors in the peripheral nerve endings are implicated in the development of increased sensitivity to mechanical and thermal stimuli, especially during inflammatory states. Both PAR2 and TRPV1 receptors are co-expressed in nociceptive dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons on their peripheral endings and al...

We previously reported that orexin neurons are directly hyperpolarized by noradrenaline (NA) and dopamine. In the present study, we show that NA, dopamine and adrenaline all directly hyperpolarized orexin neurons. This response was inhibited by the α2 adrenergic receptor (α2-AR) antagonist, idazoxan or BRL44408, and was mimicked by the α2-AR selective agonist, UK14304. A low concentration of Ba...

GABA(A) receptors (GABA(A)Rs) assembled of different subunits mediate tonic and phasic inhibition in hippocampal neurons. CA1/CA3 pyramidal cells (PCs) predominantly express alpha5 subunits whereas dentate gyrus granule cells (DGGCs) and molecular layer (ML) interneurons predominantly express delta subunits. Both alpha5- and delta-containing GABA(A)Rs mediate tonic inhibition. We have shown pre...

After unilateral peripheral vestibular lesions, the brain plasticity underlying early recovery from the static symptoms is not fully understood. Principal cells of the chick tangential nucleus offer a subset of morphologically defined vestibular nuclei neurons to study functional changes after vestibular lesions. Chickens show posture and balance deficits immediately after unilateral vestibular...

The airway vagal preganglionic neurons (AVPNs) in the external formation of the nucleus ambiguus (eNA) play a major role in the vagal control of tracheobronchial smooth muscle tone and maintenance of airway resistance. The eNA receives vasopressinergic projection from the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN), the key node for the genesis of psychological stress. Since airway vagal excitat...

Spontaneous and light-evoked postsynaptic currents (sPSCs and lePSCs, respectively) in retinal ganglion cells of the larval tiger salamander were recorded under voltage-clamp conditions from living retinal slices. The focus of this study is to characterize the spontaneous inhibitory PSCs (sIPSCs) and their contribution to the light-evoked inhibitory PSCs (leIPSCs) in ON-OFF ganglion cells. sIPS...