Thalamic firing synchrony is thought to ensure selective transmission of relevant sensory information to the recipient cortical neurons by rendering them more responsive to temporally correlated input spikes. However, direct evidence for a synchrony code in the thalamus is limited. Here, we directly measure thalamic firing synchrony and its stimulus-induced modulation over time, using simultane...

Serum response factor (SRF) regulates transcription of the immediate early genes and triggers proliferation, migration and differentiation in several types of cells. We examined the role of SRF in HCC by transfecting the SRF cDNA in HLE cells and the SRF anti-sense cDNA in sarcomatoid HCC cells. The overexpression of SRF in the HLE cells significantly increased the cell growth and proliferation...

1 2 Cav3-type α1T calcium channels mediate transient calcium currents that 3 regulate repetitive firing in Drosophila antennal lobe PNs 4 5 6 Jorge Iniguez, Soleil S. Schutte, and Diane K. O’Dowd 7 8 Depts. of Developmental and Cell Biology; Anatomy and Neurobiology 9 UC Irvine 10 Irvine CA 92697-1280 11 12 13 Running Title: Cav3-type calcium currents in adult brain 14 15 16 17 Corresponding au...

Rapid firing of cerebellar Purkinje neurons is facilitated in part by a voltage-gated Na(+) (NaV) 'resurgent' current, which allows renewed Na(+) influx during membrane repolarization. Resurgent current results from unbinding of a blocking particle that competes with normal channel inactivation. The underlying molecular components contributing to resurgent current have not been fully identified...

Thalamocortical neurons are involved in the generation and maintenance of brain rhythms associated with global functional states. The repetitive burst firing of TC neurons at delta frequencies (1-4 Hz) has been linked to the oscillations recorded during deep sleep and during episodes of absence seizures. To get insight into the biophysical properties that are the basis for intrinsic delta oscil...

The sympathetic nervous system is an essential regulator of the cardiovascular system and interactions with target tissue regulate sympathetic neuronal properties. The heart produces nerve growth factor (NGF), which promotes sympathetic noradrenergic innervation of cardiac tissue and affects sympathetic synaptic strength. Neurotrophins, including NGF, are important modulators of synaptic plasti...

Response patterns resulting from repetitive mechanical stimulation of the corpuscle depend on (1) the time course of recovery of the generator potential, on (2) the recovery of critical firing height, and on (3) the stimulus strength/generator potential function. By either augmenting stimulus frequency at constant strength, or by reducing strength at constant frequency, a sequence of propagated...

Generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+) is an autosomal dominant familial syndrome with a complex seizure phenotype. It is caused by mutations in one of 3 voltage-gated sodium channel subunit genes (SCN1B, SCN1A, and SCN2A) and the GABA(A) receptor gamma2 subunit gene (GBRG2). The biophysical characterization of 3 mutations (T875M, W1204R, and R1648H) in SCN1A, the gene encoding...

It has been suggested that the overexpression of serum response factor (SRF) in cancer cells may promote cancer metastasis. However, the exact pathway by which SRF promotes metastasis has not been clarified. Here we showed that SRF promotes gastric cancer (GC) metastasis through stromal fibroblasts in an SDF1-CXCR4-dependent manner. SRF expression was significantly increased in metastatic GCs c...

Recovery from synaptic depression is believed to depend mainly on replenishment of the releasable pool of vesicles. We observed that during recovery from depression in a calyx-type synapse, part of the releasable pool was replenished rapidly. Half recovery occurred within 1 s, even in the absence of residual calcium. Vesicles that had recently entered the releasable pool had a 7- to 8-fold lowe...