Background: The Nav 1.8 sodium channel has a key role in generating repetitive action potentials nociceptive human dorsal root ganglion neurons. is differentiated from other voltage-gated channels by its unusually slow inactivation kinetics and depolarised voltage-dependence of activation. These features are particularly pronounced the allow to remain active during r...

The axon initial segment (AIS) is positioned between the axonal and somato-dendritic compartments and plays a pivotal role in triggering action potentials (APs) and determining neuronal output. It is now widely accepted that structural properties of the AIS, such as length and/or location relative to the soma, change in an activity-dependent manner. This structural plasticity of the AIS is know...

Limbic encephalitis is an adaptive autoimmune disease, induced by different autoantibodies, which target extracellular neuronal epitopes, such as NMDA or GABAB receptors1,2. Recently our group found another human antibody, which binds to the α1 subunit of the GABAA receptor. Since the GABAA receptor is responsible for the majority of fast inhibitory neurotransmission, we investigated chan...

Recently, we have reported that transient receptor potential channel-6 (TRPC6) plays an important role in the regulation of neuronal excitability and synchronization of spiking activity in the dentate granule cells (DGC). However, the underlying mechanisms of TRPC6 in these phenomena have been still unclear. In the present study, we investigated the role of TRPC6 in subcellular localization of ...

Chin, Jeannie, Rong-Yu Liu, Leonard J. Cleary, Arnold Eskin, and John H. Byrne. TGF1-induced long-term changes in neuronal excitability in Aplysia sensory neurons depend on MAPK. J Neurophysiol 95: 3286–3290, 2006; doi:10.1152/jn.00770.2005. Transforming growth factor beta-1 (TGF1) plays important roles in the early development of the nervous system and has been implicated in neuronal plasticit...

Objective(s): Epilepsy establishment gives rise to biochemical and morphological changes in the hippocampus. Oxidative stress, morphological changes, and mossy fiber sprouting (MFS) in the hippocampus underpin the epilepsy establishment. Eugenol is the main component of the essential oil extracted from cloves with the potential to modulate neuronal excitability. Therefore, we investigated the e...

The entorhinal cortex (EC) provides the predominant excitatory drive to the hippocampal CA1 and subicular neurons in chronic epilepsy. Discerning the mechanisms underlying signal integration within EC neurons is essential for understanding network excitability alterations involving the hippocampus during epilepsy. Twenty-four hours following a single seizure episode when there were no behaviora...