The quantitative relationship between presynaptic calcium influx and transmitter release critically depends on the spatial coupling of presynaptic calcium channels to synaptic vesicles. When there is a close association between calcium channels and synaptic vesicles, the flux through a single open calcium channel may be sufficient to trigger transmitter release. With increasing spatial distance...

like myasthenia gravis, congenital myasthenic syndrome (cms) produces weakness and fatigue caused by problems at the neuromuscular junction but while mg is autoimmune, cms is an inherited disease caused by defective genes. genes defective in cms are required for making the ach receptor or other components of the neuromuscular junction. cmss are inherited in an ar, or, less frequently, ad manner...

Connexin (Cx)43 gap junction channels are phosphorylated by numerous protein kinases, with the net effect typically being a reduction in gap junction communication (GJC). This reduction must result from a decrease in channel open probability, unitary conductance, or permselectivity, because previous results suggest that channel number is unaffected. Coexpression of v-Src with wild-type Cx43 (Cx...

377 C o m m e n t a r y Gap junctions are aggregates of microscopic channels that connect the cytoplasmic compartments of the coupled cells. A gap junction channel is formed of two hemichannels, one contributed by each cell. Hemichan-nels can be formed in a post-Golgi compartment and transported to the cell surface in vesicles that fuse with the external membrane (Musil and Goodenough, 1993). H...

2-Aminoethoxydiphenyl borate (2-APB), an inositol 1,4,5-triphosphate receptor modulator, inhibits capacitive current transients measured in normal rat kidney and human embryonic kidney 293 cells, an indication of blocking gap junction channels between these cells. Here, we used the dual whole-cell patch-clamp method to study the actions of 2-APB on gap junction channels formed by selected conne...

The activity of gap junction channels between pairs of neonatal rat heart cells in culture was studied under control conditions and during uncoupling procedures by using dual whole-cell voltage clamp techniques. Under control conditions gap junctional conductance ranged from 0.05 to 35 nS. In cell pairs exhibiting low gap junctional conductance (less than 500 pS), single-channel events with a u...

tuberculous spondylitis is not an uncommon disease of the spine. near one percent of all cases of spinal tuberculosis (tb) involves craniocervical junction. hypoglossal nerve palsy is not an uncommon neurological finding, but isolated involvement of the hypoglossal nerve is rare and limited to case reports or small case series. here, we report a case of craniocervical junction tuberculosis pres...