Correlated neuronal activity is ubiquitous in developing nervous systems, where it may introduce spatiotemporal coherence and contribute to the organization of functional circuits. In this report, we used voltage-sensitive dyes and optical imaging to examine the spatiotemporal pattern of a spontaneous network activity, giant depolarizing potentials (GDPs), in rat hippocampal slices during the f...

We assessed synaptic α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate receptor (AMPAR) properties during synaptogenesis to describe the development of individual glutamatergic synapses on rat hippocampal CA1 principal neurons. Pharmacologically isolated AMPAR-mediated glutamatergic synaptic currents [evoked by stimulation of the Schaffer Collateral pathway, excitatory postsynaptic currents (EP...

Synapses are highly plastic, i.e. they have the ability to change their signaling strength both in the shortand long-term (e.g. long-term potentiation LTP) in response to specific patterns of activity. In the developing brain synaptic plasticity promotes activity-dependent development, whereas in the mature brain synaptic plasticity forms the basis for learning and memory. Although both develop...

viii 1 Review of the literature 1 1.2 Development of hippocampal network 2 1.3 Properties of kainate receptors 5 1.3.1 Structure 5 1.3.3 Pharmacology 10 1.3.2 Signaling 8 1.4 Kainate receptors in immature hippocampus 12 1.4.1 Expression 12 1.4.2 Functions 14 1.4.3 Role in network activity 18 1.5 Ethanol and the developing hippocampus 21 2 Aims 24 3 Materials and methods 25 3.1 Preparation of ac...

Schizophrenia is a severely debilitating psychiatric disease that is hypothesized to have its roots in neurodevelopment. Although the precise neuropathology underlying schizophrenia has remained elusive, there are consistent reports of abnormalities in several brain areas. Chief among these is the hippocampus, an area which has displayed both structural and functional abnormalities in many schi...

The pyramidal neurons of fetal rabbit hippocampus were studied using intracellular electrophysiological techniques in in vitro slice preparations. Correlative light and electron microscopic analyses were carried out on hippocampus during the 21st through the 29th day of fetal gestation. In intracellular experiments, neurons with all-or-none action potentials and near-adult level resting potenti...

Profound activity-dependent synaptic facilitation at hippocampal mossy fiber synapses is a unique and functionally important property. Although presynaptic ionotropic receptors, such as kainate receptors, contribute partially to the facilitation in the hippocampus, the precise mechanisms of presynaptic regulation by endogenous neurotransmitters remain unclear. In this study, we report that axon...

The dorsal and ventral regions of the hippocampus are important in cognitive and emotional processing, respectively. Various approaches have revealed the differential molecular and structural characteristics, and functional roles of the hippocampus. Recent RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) technology has enriched our understanding of the hippocampus by elucidating more detailed information on gene expre...

Spontaneously occurring neuronal oscillations constitute a hallmark of developmental networks. They have been observed in the retina, neocortex, hippocampus, thalamus and spinal cord. In the immature hippocampus the so-called ‘giant depolarizing potentials’ (GDPs) are network-driven membrane oscillations characterized by recurrent membrane depolarization with superimposed fast action potentials...

Hypoglycemia is common during development and is associated with the risk of neurodevelopmental deficits in human infants. The effects of hypoglycemia on the developing hippocampus are poorly understood. The sequential changes in energy substrates, amino acids and phosphocreatine were measured from the hippocampus during 180 min of insulin-induced hypoglycemia (blood glucose < 2.5 mmol/L) in 14...