BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The Kv 7 channel activator flupirtine is a clinical analgesic characterized as 'selective neuronal potassium channel opener'. Flupirtine was found to exert comparable actions at GABAA receptors and Kv 7 channels in neurons of pain pathways, but not in hippocampus. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Expression patterns of GABAA receptors were explored in immunoblots of rat dorsal roo...

A Boussinesq-type wave model is developed to numerically investigate the breaking waves and wave-induced currents. All the nonlinear terms are retained in the governing equations to keep fully nonlinearity characteristics and it hence more suitable to describe breaking waves with strong nonlinearity in the nearshore region. The Boussinesq equations are firstly extended to incorporate wave break...

In this paper the influence of the metallic sheath in the magnetic field generated by underground single core power cables is studied. When dealing with underground power cables, sheath circulating currents can be induced. These currents produce power losses in the sheaths and decrease the ampacity (capacity of carrying current) of the cables. The circulating sheath currents generate a magnetic...

Whole cell patch-clamp recordings were made from sympathetic preganglionic neurons (SPNs) in the intermediolateral cell column of thoracolumbar spinal cord slices of 12- to 16-day-old rats, and the effects of pituitary adenylate cyclase activating polypeptide (PACAP)-38 on N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)- and kainate (KA)-induced inward currents were examined. PACAP, in concentrations (10-30 nM) th...

Acute ethanol overdose can induce dysfunction of cerebellar motor regulation and cerebellar ataxia. In this study, we investigated the effect of ethanol on facial stimulation-evoked inhibitory synaptic responses in cerebellar Purkinje cells (PCs) in urethane-anesthetized mice, using in vivo patch-clamp recordings. Under voltage-clamp conditions, ethanol (300 mM) decreased the amplitude, half-wi...

Hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S) is a gaseous signaling molecule that appears to contribute to the regulation of vascular tone and blood pressure. Multiple potential mechanisms of vascular regulation by H(2)S exist. Here, we tested the hypothesis that piglet cerebral arteriole smooth muscle cells generate ATP-sensitive K(+) (K(ATP)) currents and that H(2)S induces vasodilation by activating K(ATP) curr...

Protein kinase C (PKC) modulates the function of the capsaicin receptor transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). This modulation manifests as increased current when the channel is activated by capsaicin. In addition, studies have suggested that phosphorylation by PKC might directly gate the channel, because PKC-activating phorbol esters induce TRPV1 currents in the absence of applied l...

The Peltier effect modulates the temperature of a junction comprising two different conductors in response to charge currents across the junction, which is used in solid-state heat pumps and temperature controllers in electronics. Recently, in spintronics, a spin counterpart of the Peltier effect was observed. The 'spin Peltier effect' modulates the temperature of a magnetic junction in respons...

Two-pore domain K+ (K2P) channels play a critical role in cellular responses to various stimuli, such as stretch or changes in pH and are considered to be important in pathological responses such as apoptosis and tumorigenesis. We investigated effects of H2O2 on various K2P channels expressed in CHO cells. Application of H2O2 did not affect TASK-1, TASK-3, TRAAK currents, but specifically incre...