Amphetamine exposure transiently increases Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) α expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) shell and this persistently increases local GluA1 S831 phosphorylation and enhances behavioral responding to the drug. Here we assessed whether transiently interfering with CaMKII signaling using a dominant-negative CaMKIIα mutant delivered to the NAcc s...

Adenylyl cyclase type-5 (AC5) is preferentially expressed in the dorsal striatum. Recently, we reported that AC5 knockout (KO) mice preferred food pellets carrying an olfactory cue produced by AC5 KO mice during food consumption (AC5 KO pellets) over food pellets that had been taken by wildtype (WT) mice. In the present study, we demonstrated that whisker trimming on the right side of the face ...

there is strong evidence demonstrating that nifedipine dissolved in ethanol selectively inhibits only l-type ca2+ current. in addition, acute ethanol exposure reduces voltage-dependent calcium currents. in the present study, we investigated the antagonistic effect of fixed concentration of nifedipine dissolved in different concentration of ethanol on l-type ca2+ current. in a na+-k+ free soluti...

Commentary Epilepsy is a comorbidity in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) by β-and γ-secretases produces amyloid β peptides, which are the main component of amyloid plaques. Alternatively, APP may be cleaved by an α-secretase to form the soluble fragment sAPPα, which promotes neuronal survival. Shifting the prote-olysis of APP from the amylo...

Activation of β-adrenoceptors in the basolateral complex of the amygdala (BLA) modulates memory through interactions with multiple memory systems. The cellular mechanisms for this interaction remain unresolved. Memory-modulating BLA manipulations influence expression of the protein product of the immediate early gene activity-regulated cytoskeletal-associated protein (Arc) in the dorsal hippoca...

Alterations in sensory experience can persistently modify the responses of cortical neurons. Ocular dominance (OD) plasticity, a process in which alternation of visual input induces a shift in cortical responsiveness, is an extensively studied model of such experience-dependent plasticity. However, the synaptic mechanisms underlying OD plasticity are not well understood. Recent studies revealed...

The optogenetic method allows us to manipulate cellular activity with high spatiotemporal resolution. most widely used tool is channelrhodopsin-2 that can be utilized control neuronal at the level. However, tools capable of inducing synaptic plasticity level single synapses (spines) have been lacking. We recently developed a photoactivatable CaMKII by fusing light-sensitive domain, LOV2, CaMKII...

rho-kinase is an effector molecule of rhoa, a monomeric gtp-binding protein, and causes ca2+ sensitization through inactivation of myosin phosphatase. the major physiological functions of rho/rho-kinase cascade include contraction, proliferation and migration in cells.there are some excellent reviews about rho/rho-kinase signal pathway, most of which focus on the specific proteins of the pathwa...