The skin is a protective cover that participates in the homeostatic regulation of internal fluids by preventing the passage of water, electrolytes and proteins into the external environment. The functional integrity of the skin is maintained through the interaction of the epidermis with the dermis. The epidermis is a tissue arranged in cellular layers. Those epidermal cells in direct opposition...

Two days following one-week administration of the benzodiazepine, flurazepam (FZP), rats exhibit anticonvulsant tolerance in vivo, while reduced GABA(A) receptor-mediated inhibition and enhanced EPSP amplitude are present in CA1 pyramidal neurons in vitro. AMPA receptor (AMPAR)-mediated synaptic transmission in FZP-treated rats was examined using electrophysiological techniques in in vitro hipp...

Synaptic zinc (Zn), a co-factor in some glutamatergic synapses, has been implicated in plasticity effects, as well as in several excitotoxic and other pathophysiological conditions. In this study, we provide information about the distribution of Zn in inferotemporal cortex, a region at the interface of the visual and hippocampal networks. In brief, we found a lateral to medial increase in Zn, w...

We have recorded from single neurons in the retinorecipient layers of the superior colliculus of the cat. We distinguished several functionally distinct groups of collicular neurons on the basis of their velocity response profiles to photic stimuli. The first group was constituted by cells responding only to photic stimuli moving at slow-to-moderate velocities across their receptive fields (pre...

Activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) elicits persistent ictaform discharges in guinea pig hippocampal slices, providing an in vitro model of epileptogenesis. The induction of these persistent ictaform bursts is prevented by l-cysteine sulfinic acid (CSA), an agonist at phospholipase D (PLD)-coupled mGluRs. Studies described herein examined the role of protein kinase C...

(1) Intracellular and extracellular recordings were made from CA1 pyramidal neurons in an in vitro rat hippocampal slice preparation, while [D-Ala2, D-Leu5]enkephalin (DADL) was applied by perfusion at a known concentration (1 to 5 X 10-7 M), in a small droplet, or by iontophoresis into the cellular and dendritic layers of the slice. The effects of DADL on synaptic potentials and membrane prope...

Hippocampus-associated genes that orchestrate the formation of the compact stratum pyramidale are largely unknown. The BTB (broad complex, tramtrack, bric-a-brac)-zinc finger gene Zbtb20 (also known as HOF, Znf288, Zfp288) encodes two protein isoforms, designated Zbtb20(S) and Zbtb20(L), which are expressed in newborn pyramidal neurons of the presumptive hippocampus in mice. Here, we have gener...

In transverse hippocampal slices from rat and guinea pig brains, we obtained unitary extracellular recordings from nonpyramidal neurones located in or near the stratum pyramidale in the CA1 field and in the transition region between the CA1 and the subiculum. In rats, these neurones responded to oxytocin at 50-1000 nM by a reversible increase in firing rate. The oxytocin-induced excitation was ...

The physiological roles of neuronal gap junctions in the intact brain are not known. The recent generation of the connexin-36 knock-out (Cx36 KO) mouse has offered a unique opportunity to examine this problem. Recent in vitro recordings in Cx36 KO mice suggested that Cx36 gap junction contributes to various oscillatory patterns in the theta (approximately 5-10 Hz) and gamma (approximately 30-80...