Dentate granule cells become synaptically interconnected in the hippocampus of persons with temporal lobe epilepsy, forming a recurrent mossy fiber pathway. This pathway may contribute to the development and propagation of seizures. The physiology of mossy fiber-granule cell synapses is difficult to characterize unambiguously, because electrical stimulation may activate other pathways and becau...

In this study we show that postnatal development of cerebellar granule neurons (GNs) is defective in Npc1(-/-) mice. Compared to age-matched wild-type littermates, there is an accelerated disappearance of the external granule layer (EGL) in these mice. This is due to a premature exit from the cell cycle of GN precursors residing at the level of the EGL. As a consequence, the size of cerebellar ...

ÐMarr [J. Physiol. (1969) 202, 437±470] and Albus [Math. Biosci. (1971) 10, 25±61] hypothesized that cerebellar learning is facilitated by a granule cell sparse code, i.e. a neural code in which the fraction of active neurons is low at any one time. In this paper, we re-examine this hypothesis in light of recent experimental and theoretical ®ndings. We argue that cerebellar motor learning is en...

RNA transport is an important and fundamental event for local protein synthesis, especially in neurons. RNA is transported as large granules, but little is known about them. Here, we isolated a large RNase-sensitive granule (size: 1000S approximately) as a binding partner of conventional kinesin (KIF5). We identified a total of 42 proteins with mRNAs for CaMKIIalpha and Arc in the granule. Seve...

The ultrastructure of neurosecretory cells in the paraventricular nucleus of the female rat in various stages of the estrous cycle was studied by electron microscopy. On account of the secretory cycle, the neurosecretory neurons were classified into four types, and the incidence of each type was counted throughout the estrous cycle. In proestrous afternoon, neurons at the phase of protein synth...

Most mammalian brain cells develop from neural progenitor or stem cells that reside in the ventricular and subventricular zone. Interestingly, in rodents and primates, neurogenesis does not end when the olfactory bulb reaches adult size but rather continues throughout life (Kaplan et al., 1985; Kuhn et al., 1996; Pencea et al., 2001). For neurons at two locations in the olfactory bulb, the gran...

in the present study, a total of 595 specimens collected monthly in the northern part of persian gulf between november 2006 and october 2007 were examined by routine macroscopic and histological techniques. monthly changes in the gonadosomatic index showed the spawning season extended within 2 peaks, from april- may and september. the maturity stages are morphologically separated according to t...

Aim. To determine the effect of a Chinese herbal compound named Wenxin Granule on ventricular remodeling and myocardial apoptosis in rats with myocardial infarction (MI). Methods. Male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were randomly divided into four groups: the control group, the model group, the metoprolol group, and the Wenxin Granule group (WXKL group) with sample size (n) of 7 rats in each group. A...

In the epileptic hippocampus, newly sprouted mossy fibers are considered to form recurrent excitatory connections to granule cells in the dentate gyrus and thereby increase seizure susceptibility. To study the effects of mossy fiber sprouting on neural activity in individual lamellae of the dentate gyrus, we used high-speed optical recording to record signals from voltage-sensitive dye in hippo...