We assessed the potential of using multielectrode arrays (MEAs) to investigate several physiological properties of the calyx of Held synapse in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body of gerbil. Due to the large size of the synapse, it became widely employed in studies on synaptic mechanisms. Electrical stimulation at the midline evoked a characteristic compound signal consisting of a presynap...

The cholinergic postsynaptic neuromuscular blocker, tubocurarine chloride (curare), attenuates the rod shedding response of the frog in a dose-dependent manner. Injections of curare into the dorsal lymph sacs or intraocularly into the vitreous of the eye produced similar results. Intraocular injections of Ringer solution of varying quantities of 0.9% NaCl (the carrier solution of the commercial...

OBJECTIVE Given reports that (+/-)pindolol, a beta-adrenergic-5-HT1A/1B receptor antagonist, accelerates the onset of the therapeutic effect of certain antidepressant drugs in major depression, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of sustained (+/-)pindolol administration on the sensitivity of pre- and postsynaptic 5-HT1A receptors, terminal 5-HT1B autoreceptors and on overall 5-HT ne...

Nitric oxide (NO) is a diffusible gas and has multifarious effects on both pre- and postsynaptic events. As a consequence of complex excitatory and inhibitory integrations, NO effects on neuronal activities are heterogeneous. Using in vitro preparations of neonatal rats that retain the splanchnic sympathetic nerves and the thoracic spinal cord as an experimental model, we report here that eithe...

The pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is part of the cholinergic arm of the reticular activating system, which is mostly active during waking and rapid-eye movement sleep. The PPN projects to the thalamus and receives cholinergic inputs from the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus and contralateral PPN. We employed retrograde labeling and whole cell recordings to determine the modulation of GABAergic, ...

The GABAergic reticular thalamic nucleus (RTN) is a major source of inhibition for thalamocortical neurons in the ventrobasal complex (VB). Thalamic circuits are thought to be an important anatomic target for general anesthetics. We investigated presynaptic actions of the intravenous anesthetic propofol in RTN neurons, using RTN-retained and RTN-removed brain slices. In RTN-retained slices, foc...

Fusion of a single vesicle induces a quantal response, which is critical in determining synaptic strength. Quantal size varies at most synapses. Its underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Here, we examined five sources of variation: vesicular glutamate concentration ([Glu]v), vesicle volume, ultrafast fusion pore closure, the postsynaptic receptor, and the location between release and t...

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) generates persistent tonic inhibitory currents (Itonic) and conventional inhibitory postsynaptic currents in the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) via activation of GABAA receptors (GABAARs). We investigated the pathophysiological significance of astroglial GABA uptake in the regulation of Itonic in the PVN neurons projecting to the rostral ventrolateral medu...

NMDA receptors (NMDAr) are known to undergo recycling and lateral diffusion in postsynaptic spines and dendrites. However, NMDAr are also present as autoreceptors on glutamate terminals, where they act to facilitate glutamate release, but it is not known whether these receptors are also mobile. We have used functional pharmacological approaches to examine whether NMDA receptors at excitatory sy...

The plasma membrane GABA transporter GAT1 is thought to mediate uptake of synaptically-released GABA. In the primate dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), GAT1 expression changes significantly during development and in schizophrenia. The consequences of such changes, however, are not well understood because GAT1’s role has not been investigated in primate neocortical circuits. We thus studied...