Many developing neural circuits generate synchronized bursting activity among neighboring neurons, a pattern thought to be important for sculpting precise neural connectivity. Network output remains relatively constant as the cellular and synaptic components of these immature circuits change during development, suggesting the presence of homeostatic mechanisms. In the retina, spontaneous waves ...

Increased smooth muscle tone in the human prostate contributes to the symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia. In the mouse prostate gland, cholinergic innervation is responsible for a component of the nerve-mediated contractile response. This study investigates the muscarinic receptor subtype responsible for the cholinergic contractile response in the mouse prostate gland. To cha...

The midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG) is involved in organizing behavioural responses to threat, stress and pain. These PAG functions are modulated by cholinergic agents. In the present study, we examined the cholinergic modulation of synaptic transmission in the PAG using whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings from rat midbrain slices. We found that the cholinergic agonist carbachol reduced the ...

43 44 The central cholinergic system regulates both the circadian clock and sleep-wake cycle, and may 45 participate in the feedback control of vigilance states on neural excitability in the 46 suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) that houses the circadian clock. Here we investigate the 47 mechanisms for cholinergic modulation of SCN neuron excitability. Cell-attached recordings 48 indicate that the n...

Cholinergic input to the optic tectum is necessary for visual map maintenance. To understand why, we examined the effects of activation of the different cholinergic receptor subtypes in tectal brain slices and determined whether the retinotectal map was affected by manipulations of their activity in vivo. Both alpha-bungarotoxin sensitive and insensitive nicotinic receptor agonists increased sp...

The neurotransmitter glutamate is released by excitatory projection neurons throughout the brain. However, non-glutamatergic cells, including cholinergic and monoaminergic neurons, express markers that suggest that they are also capable of vesicular glutamate release. Striatal cholinergic interneurons (CINs) express the Type-3 vesicular glutamate transporter (VGluT3), although whether they form...

The overactive bladder (OAB) is a debilitating condition in which patients suffer from urinary urgency, frequency and nocturia with or without urge urinary incontinence. The mainstay of pharmacotherapy for OAB is muscarinic receptor antagonists, which have been shown to be effective treatments for the symptoms of OAB. The mechanism underlying the efficacy of antimuscarinic agents against the sy...

The aim of this study was to determine if nitric oxide (NO) is the non-adrenergic, non-cholinergic neurotransmitter, released by enteric inhibitory nerves, which mediates relaxation of the human internal anal sphincter. Isolated muscle strips were mounted for isometric tension recording in superfusion organ baths. Sodium nitroprusside, an exogenous donor of NO, relaxed the strips in a concentra...

Spontaneous waves of excitation in the developing mammalian retina are mediated, to a large extent, by neurotransmission. However, it is unclear how the underlying neurotransmitter systems interact with each other to play specific roles in the formation of retinal waves at various developmental stages. In particular, it is puzzling why the waves maintain a similar propagation pattern even after...

In this report we describe extracellular recordings made from ON and ON-OFF directionally selective (DS) ganglion cells in the rabbit retina during perfusion with agonists and antagonists to acetylcholine (ACh), glutamate, and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Nicotinic ACh agonists strongly excited DS ganglion cell in a dose-dependent manner. Dose-response curves showed a wide range of potencies...