Hippocampal granule cells are important relay stations that transfer information from the entorhinal cortex into the hippocampus proper. This process is critically determined by the integrative properties of granule cell dendrites. However, their small diameter has so far hampered efforts to examine their properties directly. Using a combination of dual somatodendritic patch-clamp recordings an...

The hippocampal dentate gyrus is often viewed as a segregator of upstream information. Physiological support for such function has been hampered by a lack of well-defined characteristics that can identify granule cells and mossy cells. We developed an electrophysiology-based classification of dentate granule cells and mossy cells in mice that we validated by optogenetic tagging of mossy cells. ...

Granule cells are the dominant cell type of the olfactory bulb inhibiting mitral and tufted cells via dendrodendritic synapses; yet the factors regulating the strength of their inhibitory output, and, therefore, their impact on odour discrimination, remain unknown. Here we show that GABAAR β3-subunits are distributed in a somatodendritic pattern, mostly sparing the large granule cell spines als...

Three-dimensional models of individual granules in the same Langerhans cell were made after analyzing serial sections of human epidermis in the electron microscope. These models revealed that the granule is made up of a flattened or curved orthogonal net of particles which is bounded externally by a limiting membrane and which may be disc-shaped, cup-shaped, or combinations of both shapes. This...

The dynamics of the fusion pore that forms between a secretory vesicle and the plasma membrane are important in the regulation of both exocytosis and endocytosis. Here, we describe characteristics of fusion during zymogen granule exocytosis in exocrine pancreatic acinar cells. By using fluorescence recovery after photobleaching techniques, we show that the fusion pore remains open to allow free...

Newborn neurons are continuously added to the hippocampal dentate gyrus (DG) throughout life. Mature and immature granule neurons are believed to send their axonal projections exclusively to the hippocampal CA3 field. However, recent data point to an alternative trisynaptic circuit, involving a direct axonal projection from mature granule neurons to the CA2 field. Whether this circuit takes pla...

Xenopus oocytes undergo dynamic structural changes during maturation and fertilization. Among these, cortical granule exocytosis and compensatory endocytosis provide effective models to study membrane trafficking. This study documents an important role for myosin 1e in cortical granule exocytosis. Myosin 1e is expressed at the earliest stage that cortical granule exocytosis can be detected in o...

We created an Nse-CreERT2 mouse line expressing the tamoxifen-inducible CreERT2 recombinase under the control of the neuron-specific enolase (Nse) promoter. By using Cre reporter lines we could show that this Nse-CreERT2 line has recombination activity in the granule cells of all cerebellar lobules as well as in postmitotic granule cell precursors in the external granular layer of the developin...

Adult neurogenesis is frequently studied in the mouse hippocampus. We examined the morphological development of adult-born, immature granule cells in the suprapyramidal blade of the septal dentate gyrus over the period of 7-77 days after mitosis with BrdU-labeling in 6-weeks-old male Thy1-GFP mice. As Thy1-GFP expression was restricted to maturated granule cells, it was combined with doublecort...