Cys-loop neurotransmitter-gated ion channels are vital for communication throughout the nervous system. Following activation, these receptors enter into a desensitized state in which the ion channel shuts even though the neurotransmitter molecules remain bound. To date, the molecular determinants underlying this most fundamental property of Cys-loop receptors have remained elusive. Here we pres...

1 GABAA receptor β3 subunit 2 3 4 Harald Hentschke, Claudia Benkwitz, Matthew I. Banks, Mark G. Perkins, Gregg E. 5 Homanics and Robert A. Pearce 6 7 1. Department of Anesthesiology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA 8 2. Section of Experimental Anesthesiology, Department of Anesthesiology, Eberhard9 Karls-University, Tuebingen, Germany 10 3. Departments of Anesthesiology and Phar...

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 208 No. 6 791–806 www.jcb.org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.201407122 JCB 791 Correspondence to Carlos G. Dotti: [email protected]; or José A. Esteban: [email protected] Abbreviations used in this paper: ACSF, artificial cerebrospinal fluid; AMPA, -amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid; AMPAR, AMPA-type glutamate receptor; Chol...

Development of effective treatment agents for the alcohol use disorders requires the detailed understanding of molecular targets of alcohol in the brain. The gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAARs) are the major molecular targets of alcohol in the central nervous system. Mediating inhibitory neurotransmission upon GABA binding in the vertebrate central nervous system, GABAARs are het...

Granule cells are the dominant cell type of the olfactory bulb inhibiting mitral and tufted cells via dendrodendritic synapses; yet the factors regulating the strength of their inhibitory output, and, therefore, their impact on odour discrimination, remain unknown. Here we show that GABAAR β3-subunits are distributed in a somatodendritic pattern, mostly sparing the large granule cell spines als...

Regulation of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis activity by stress is a fundamental survival mechanism and HPA-dysfunction is implicated in psychiatric disorders. Adverse early life experiences, e.g. poor maternal care, negatively influence brain development and programs an abnormal stress response by encoding long-lasting molecular changes, which may extend to the next generatio...

Synaptic plasticity relies on the rapid changes in neurotransmitter receptor number at postsynaptic sites. Using superresolution photoactivatable localization microscopy imaging and quantum dot-based single-particle tracking in rat hippocampal cultured neurons, we investigated whether the phosphorylation status of the main scaffolding protein gephyrin influenced the organization of the gephyrin...