Harnessing GABAergic Transmission for Slow Oscillations

Slow oscillations (</=1 Hz) mediated by GABAergic interneuronal networks in rat hippocampus.

Perfusion of rat brain slices with low millimole CsCl elicits slow oscillations of </=1 Hz in hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons. These oscillations are GABAA receptor-mediated hyperpolarizations that permit a coherent fire-pause pattern in a population of CA1 neurons. They can persist without the activation of ionotropic glutamate receptors but require adenosine-dependent inhibition of glutamat...

Slow Gabaergic Transmission Deficits in the Basolateral Amygdala in a Mouse Model of Fragile-x Syndrome

Intrinsic coupling between gamma oscillations, neuronal discharges, and slow cortical oscillations during human slow-wave sleep.

Editor's Note: These short, critical reviews of recent papers in the Journal, written exclusively by graduate students or postdoctoral fellows, are intended to summarize the important findings of the paper and provide additional insight and commentary. For more information on the format and purpose of the Journal Club, please see In the first electrocorticograms, Richard Caton (1877) connected ...

Endogenous nonneuronal modulators of synaptic transmission control cortical slow oscillations in vivo.

Gliotransmission, the release of molecules from astrocytes, regulates neuronal excitability and synaptic transmission in situ. Whether this process affects neuronal network activity in vivo is not known. Using a combination of astrocyte-specific molecular genetics, with in vivo electrophysiology and pharmacology, we determined that gliotransmission modulates cortical slow oscillations, a rhythm...

GABAergic system for Ptychodiscus brevis toxin-induced depression of synaptic transmission elicited in isolated spinal cord from neonatal rats

The involvement of inhibitory transmitters for Ptychodiscus brevis toxin (PbTx)-induced depression of spinal synaptic transmission in neonatal rats was investigated. Stimulation of a dorsal root evoked monosynaptic reflex (MSR) and polysynaptic reflex (PSR) potentials in the segmental ventral root. The PbTx depressed the reflexes in a concentration-dependent manner and this depression was block...