CD8+ T cells have a critical role in antiviral immunity peripheral tissues, including skin. Using cutaneous vaccinia virus (VACV) infection model, we demonstrate that VACV immunization (with or with heterologous sequences) by skin scarification/ epidermal disruption (ss/ed) protected mice far more effectively against lethal respiratory challenge other viruses than routes of delivery intramuscul...

The petrosal ganglion (PG) is a peripheral sensory ganglion, composed of pseudomonopolar sensory neurons that innervate the posterior third of the tongue and the carotid sinus and body. According to their electrical properties PG neurons can be ascribed to one of two categories: (i) neurons with action potentials presenting an inflection (hump) on its repolarizing phase and (ii) neurons with fa...

Modulation of the strength of siphon and tail withdrawal reflexes in Aplysia involves, in part, changes in the sensory neurons that initiate these reflexes. Different observations and experiments on modulation in siphon and tail sensory neurons together contribute to the working model of mechanisms of learning and memory in Aplysia, yet no direct comparison of modulation in these two classes of...

Macrophage stimulating protein (MSP) is a pleiotropic growth factor that signals via the Ron receptor tyrosine kinase. We report that Ron mRNA is expressed by NGF-dependent sensory and sympathetic neurons and that these neurons survive and grow with MSP at different stages of development. Whereas NGF-dependent sensory neurons become increasingly responsive to MSP with age, sympathetic neurons e...

Modulation ofvoltage-dependent Ca channels by norepinephrine (NE) was studied in chick dorsal root ganglion cells using the whole-cell configuration of the patch-clamp technique. Cells dialyzed with K+ and 2-10 mM EGTA exhibited Ca action potentials that were reversibly decreased in duration and amplitude by NE. Ca channel currents were isolated from other channel contributions by using: (a) te...

Cell adhesion molecules belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) control synaptic specificity through hetero- or homophilic interactions in different regions of the nervous system. In the developing spinal cord, monosynaptic connections of exquisite specificity form between proprioceptive sensory neurons and motor neurons, however, it is not known whether IgSF molecules participate in...

In the olfactory system of vertebrates, a large number of primary sensory neurons terminate in glomeruli in the olfactory bulb, where they make synapses with a significantly smaller number of secondary neurons. We applied small amounts of a lipophilic neural tracer (Dil) in the glomerular regions of the lateral olfactory bulb in crucian carp, and investigated the centrifugal migration of this s...

The amygdala (AM) receives information from various sensory modalities via the neocortex and directly from the thalamus and brain stem and plays an important role in ingestive behaviors. In the present study, neuronal activity was recorded in the AM and amygdalostriatal transition area of rats during discrimination of conditioned sensory stimuli and ingestion of sapid solutions. Of the 420 resp...

Conditioning injury to adult mammalian sensory neurons enhances their regeneration potential. Here we show that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) is a fundamental component of the conditioning response. Conditioning injury in vivo significantly increases the intrinsic growth capacity of sensory neurons in vitro from LIF+/+ mice. This conditioning effect is significantly blunted in sensory neuron...

Animals with compact sensory systems face an encoding problem where a small number of sensory neurons are required to encode information about its surrounding complex environment. Using Caenorhabditis elegans worms as a model, we ask how chemical stimuli are encoded by a small and highly connected sensory system. We first generated a comprehensive library of transgenic worms where each animal e...