kappa opioid receptor activation inhibits granule cell-mediated excitatory neurotransmission in the hippocampal formation via a decrease in glutamate release from both perforant path and mossy fiber terminals. We now report a third, anatomically and pharmacologically distinct site of such kappa opioid inhibition within the hippocampus. Granule cell population responses to selective stimulation ...

Many complex neuronal circuits have been shown to display nonrandom features in their connectivity. However, the functional impact of nonrandom network topologies in neurological diseases is not well understood. The dentate gyrus is an excellent circuit in which to study such functional implications because proepileptic insults cause its structure to undergo a number of specific changes in both...

In addition to the exclusively granule-bound starch synthase GBSSI, starch granules also bind significant proportions of other starch biosynthetic enzymes, particularly starch synthases (SS) SSI and SSIIa, and starch branching enzyme (BE) BEIIb. Whether this association is a functional aspect of starch biosynthesis, or results from non-specific entrapment during amylopectin crystallization, is ...

Mammalian cortical granules contain two polypeptides (p62 and p56) that are incorporated into the cortical granule envelope after fertilization and function in cleavage of the zygote and the preimplantation blastomeres. Since the echinoderm hyaline layer and mammalian cortical granule envelope are analogous, and since the hyaline layer protein, hyalin, functions in early echinoderm embryogenesi...

Mast cell granule remnants contain heparin proteoglycans and bind low density lipoproteins (LDL). Phagocytosis of such LDL-coated remnants by smooth muscle cells of synthetic phenotype (s-SMC) leads to cellular accumulation of LDL-derived cholesteryl esters (Wang et al. 1995. Arterioscler. Thromb. Vasc. Biol. 15: 801-810). In the present study, we investigated the pathway by which granule remna...

G proteins were identified in rat parotid plasma membrane-enriched fractions and in two populations of isolated secretory granule membrane fractions. Both [32P]ADP-ribosylation analysis with bacterial toxins and immunoblot analysis with crude and affinity-purified antisera specific for alpha subunits of G proteins were utilized. Pertussis toxin catalysed the ADP-ribosylation of a 41 kDa substra...

Melt pelletization experiments with sodium valproate as a hygroscopic drug were performed in a laboratory scale high shear mixer. In the current part, the effect of altering the binder liquid properties (using different binders, varying the temperature, or adding highly dispersed silicon dioxide to the molten binder) on the pellet size, size distribution and the growth rate was studied. Three m...

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...

Mutations in the Unc5h3 gene, a receptor for the netrin 1 ligand, result in abnormal migrations of both Purkinje and granule cells to regions outside the cerebellum and of granule cells to regions within the cerebellum. Because both Purkinje and granule cells express this molecule, we sought to determine whether one or both of these cell types are the primary target of the mutation. Chimeric mi...

The single-channel properties of AMPA receptors can affect information processing in neurons by influencing the amplitude and kinetics of synaptic currents, yet little is known about the unitary properties of native AMPA receptors in situ. Using whole-cell and outside-out patch-clamp recordings from granule cells in acute cerebellar slices, we found that migrating granule cells begin to express...