Subpopulations of sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) can be characterized on the basis of sensory modalities that convey distinct peripheral stimuli, but the molecular mechanisms that underlie sensory neuronal diversification remain unclear. Here, we have used genetic manipulations in the mouse embryo to examine how Runx transcription factor signaling controls the acquisition of ...

The spinal dorsal horn comprises heterogeneous populations of interneurons and projection neurons, which form neuronal circuits crucial for processing of primary sensory information. Although electrophysiological analyses have uncovered sensory stimulation-evoked neuronal activity of various spinal dorsal horn neurons, monitoring these activities from large ensembles of neurons is needed to obt...

Neurotrophins and their Trk family receptor tyrosine kinases act on the development and function of the PNS. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies have established the roles of each Trk receptor in neurite outgrowth, survival and differentiation (Bibel and Barde, 2000; Huang and Reichardt, 2001; Snider, 1994). The differential expression of Trk receptors in subsets of sensory neurons indicates ...

The cerebral cortex, the outer portion of the brain, consists of a layered structure of neural tissue that contains the cell bodies of neurons and plays a key role in perception and cognition. Although cortical circuits throughout the brain share similarities, the patterns of connections among neurons in different brain regions can vary widely. Yet, relatively little is known about how region-s...

Sensory interaction was studied using extracellular recordings from 275 neurons in the primary somatosensory (SI) cortex of pentobarbital-anesthetized rats. Tactile stimulation was applied to the receptive field using a 1 mm diameter probe that indented the skin for 20 ms, at 0.5 Hz, (test stimulus). Tactile test responses of SI neurons decreased during simultaneous application of a gentle tick...

The mammalian olfactory system has the natural capacity to regenerate throughout the animal's life span. Despite constant neurogenesis, olfactory sensory neurons project to precise, stereotypical positions in the brain. Here, we identify a critical period of olfactory sensory axon targeting during postnatal development in mouse. Perturbing axon projection beyond postnatal day 7 permanently disr...

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) promotes the survival of two populations of CNS neurons: motoneurons and midbrain dopaminergic neurons. To see whether GDNF promotes the survival of PNS neurons, we studied embryonic chicken autonomic and sensory neurons in culture. We show that GDNF promotes the survival of sympathetic, parasympathetic, proprioceptive, enteroceptive, and small...

1, Inking behavior is a stereotyped response, which can be utilized as a model system to study the neuronal mechanisms underlying simple neuroglandular behaviors. While much is known about the features of the behavior and its motor neurons (2, 811, 20), little is known regarding the sensory neurons and interneurons that drive the motor cells. The present study was undertaken to examine these ad...

: Strategies that exploit induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to derive neurons have relied on cocktails of cytokines and growth factors to bias cell-signaling events in the course of fate choice. These are often costly and inefficient, involving multiple steps. In this study, we took an alternative approach and selected 5 small-molecule inhibitors of key signaling pathways in an 8-day progr...