The synergistic mechanism underlying the effects of multi‑component combined drug use for complex diseases remains to be fully elucidated. Microglial activation following ischemia can either affect neural survival or cause neuronal injury. The aim of the present study was to determine the synergistic effect of geniposide and ginsenoside Rg1, based on microglial‑neuronal communication. N2a neuro...

We have used site-directed mutagenesis in conjunction with homologous recombination to generate two mouse lines carrying point mutations in the glycine binding site of the NMDAR1 subunit (Grin1). Glycine concentration-response curves from acutely dissociated hippocampal neurons revealed a 5- and 86-fold reduction in receptor glycine affinity in mice carrying Grin1(D481N) and Grin1(K483Q) mutati...

Unipolar brush cells (UBCs) of the mammalian vestibulocerebellum receive mossy fiber projections primarily from the vestibular ganglion and vestibular nuclei. Recently, the axons of UBCs have been shown to generate an extensive system of cortex-intrinsic mossy fibers, which resemble traditional cerebellar mossy fiber afferents and synapse with granule cell dendrites and other UBCs. However, the...

Avulsion of spinal nerve roots in the brachial plexus (BP) can be repaired by crossing nerve transfer via a nerve graft to connect injured nerve ends to the BP contralateral to the lesioned side. Sensory recovery in these patients suggests that the contralateral primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is activated by afferent inputs that bypassed to the contralateral BP. To confirm this hypothesis, t...

Protein malnutrition during early development has been correlated with cognitive and learning disabilities in children, but the neuronal deficits caused by long-term protein deficiency are not well understood. We exposed rats from gestation up to adulthood to a protein-deficient (PD) diet, to emulate chronic protein malnutrition in humans. The offspring exhibited significantly impaired performa...

Cultured hippocampal slices retain many in vivo features with regard to circuitry, synaptic plasticity, and pathological responsiveness, while remaining accessible to a variety of experimental manipulations. The present study used ligand binding, immunostaining, and in situ hybridization assays to determine the stability of AMPA- and NMDA-type glutamate receptors and other synaptic proteins in ...

The development of sympathetic overactivity and hypertension in rats submitted to chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) involve alterations in the central mechanisms controlling respiratory and autonomic functions. Herein, we assessed whether CIH alters glutamatergic and/or purinergic signaling in the ventrolateral medulla (VLM), a region that encompasses the pre-sympathetic neurons and respirator...

Sympathetic overactivity and altered respiratory control are commonly observed after chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) exposure. However, the central mechanisms underlying such neurovegetative dysfunctions remain unclear. Herein, we hypothesized that CIH (6% O(2) every 9 min, 8 h/day, 10 days) in juvenile rats alters glutamatergic transmission in the commissural nucleus tractus solitarius (cNT...

The relative role of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) and non-NMDA receptors in synaptic responses of neurons in caudal nucleus tractus solitarii (cNTS) was delineated by immunohistochemical and electrophysiologic experiments in rats. Double immunohistochemical staining in in vivo experiments revealed that approximately 80% of cNTS neurons that showed Fos-like immunoreactivity induced by barorecepto...

We used actin-perturbing agents and detergent extraction of primary hippocampal cultures to test directly the role of the actin cytoskeleton in localizing GABAA receptors, AMPA- and NMDA-type glutamate receptors, and potential anchoring proteins at postsynaptic sites. Excitatory postsynaptic sites on dendritic spines contained a high concentration of F-actin that was resistant to cytochalasin D...