We created an Nse-CreERT2 mouse line expressing the tamoxifen-inducible CreERT2 recombinase under the control of the neuron-specific enolase (Nse) promoter. By using Cre reporter lines we could show that this Nse-CreERT2 line has recombination activity in the granule cells of all cerebellar lobules as well as in postmitotic granule cell precursors in the external granular layer of the developin...

Stress strongly inhibits proliferation of granule cell precursors in the adult dentate gyrus, whereas voluntary running has the opposite effect. Few studies, however, have examined the possible effects of these environmental manipulations on the maturation and survival of young granule cells. We examined the number of surviving granule cells and the proportion of young neurons that were functio...

PURPOSE Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is often associated with Ammon's horn sclerosis (AHS) characterized by hippocampal cell death and dentate gyrus granule cell dispersion (GCD). Granule cells survive AHS and have been proposed to be hyperexcitable in TLE. Here we studied whether the passive excitability of granule cells correlates with the severity of AHS. METHODS We analyzed the passive me...

The expression of neurofilament (NF) proteins was examined in the surgical specimen from a 42-year-old woman with Lhermitte-Duclos disease. Hypertrophic granule cell neurons of the dysplastic tissues were reactive with monoclonal antibodies, including antibodies to each of the three human NF subunits. Furthermore, antibodies to dephosphorylation-dependent epitopes on NF proteins stained the cel...

In the developing cerebellum, switching of subunit composition of NMDA receptors occurs in granule cells from NR2B subunit-containing receptors to NR2C subunit-containing receptors. This switching of subunit composition plays an important role in the establishment of functional mossy fiber-granule cell synaptic transmission in the mature cerebellar network. The mechanism underlying NR2C upregul...

During the formation of neuronal circuits, afferent axons often enter target regions before their target cells are mature and then make temporary contacts with nonspecific targets before forming synapses on specific target cells. The regulation of these different steps of afferent-target interactions is poorly understood. The cerebellum is a good model for addressing these aspects, because cere...

The mammalian dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) integrates auditory nerve input with nonauditory signals via a cerebellar-like granule cell circuit. Although granule cells carry nonauditory information to the DCN, almost nothing is known about their physiology. Here we describe electrophysiological features of synaptic inputs to granule cells in the DCN by in vitro patch-clamp recordings from P12 t...

In the mammalian olfactory bulb, mitral cell dendrites release glutamate onto the dendritic spines of granule cells, which in turn release GABA back onto mitral dendrites. This local synaptic circuit forms the basis for reciprocal dendrodendritic inhibition mediated by ionotropic GABA(A) receptors in mitral cells. Surprisingly little is known about neurotransmitter modulation of dendrodendritic...