Central processing of acoustic cues is critically dependent on the balance between excitation and inhibition. This balance is particularly important for auditory neurons in the lateral superior olive, because these compare excitatory inputs from one ear and inhibitory inputs from the other ear to compute sound source location. By applying GABA(B) receptor antagonists during sound stimulation in...

Introduction: Neurons in layer II and III of the somatosensory cortex in rats show high frequency (33 ± 13 Hz) of miniature excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) that their rates and amplitudes are independent of sodium channels. There are some changes in these currents in neurodegenerative and psychological disorders. Regarding to well known roles of the neuromodulatory brain systems in...

Ethanol increases miniature inhibitory postsynaptic current frequency and decreases the paired-pulse ratio, which suggests that ethanol increases both spontaneous and evoked GABA release, respectively. We have shown previously that ethanol increases GABA release at the rat interneuron-Purkinje cell synapse and that this ethanol effect involves calcium release from internal stores; however, furt...

External globus pallidus (GPe) neurons express abundant metabotropic glutamate receptor 1 (mGluR1) in their somata and dendrites and receive glutamatergic inputs mainly from the subthalamic nucleus. We investigated whether synaptically released glutamate could activate mGluR1s using whole cell and cell-attached recordings in rat brain slice preparations. Repetitive internal capsule stimulation ...

the most important risk factors for anxiety disorders include genes, early life stress, and current stress. these factors do not act independently but interact with each other throughout human development through examples such as epigenetic modifications and complex forms of learning. the neural substrate of pathological anxiety includes hyperactivity in the amygdala and other limbic brain regi...

Regulators of G-protein signaling (RGS) proteins regulate certain G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-mediated signaling pathways. The GABA(B) receptor (GABA(B)R) is a GPCR that plays a role in the stress response. Previous studies indicate that acute immobilization stress (AIS) decreases RGS4 in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hypothalamus (HY) and suggest the possibility of a signal complex com...

Mutual inhibition between the GABAergic cells of the thalamic reticular nucleus (RTN) is important in regulating oscillations in the thalamocortical network, promoting those in the spindle range of frequencies over those at lower frequencies. Excitatory inputs to the RTN from the cerebral cortex are numerically large and particularly powerful in inducing spindles. However, the extent to which c...

The Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (Glu) neurotransmitter systems are implicated in depression. While previous studies found reduced GABA levels, a tendency towards Glu, using proton (1H) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS), little is known about GABAA receptor availability Here, the aim was to characterize Glu-levels dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), whole-brain avail...

Serotonin (5-HT)3 receptors are the only ligand-gated ion channel of the 5-HT receptors family. They are present both in the peripheral and central nervous system and are localized in several areas involved in mood regulation (e.g., hippocampus or prefrontal cortex). Moreover, they are involved in regulation of neurotransmitter systems implicated in the pathophysiology of major depression (e.g....