1. We studied two-pulse facilitation and delayed release at 0 degree C, because at low temperature facilitation is enhanced and extended whereas delayed release is increased. Our major goal was to test, by a number of approaches, the residual Ca2+ hypothesis of facilitation and delayed release. 2. As we increased the interval between pulses from 30 to 100-200 ms facilitation declined steeply. A...

BACKGROUND The cerebral cortex is permanently active during both awake and sleep states. This ongoing cortical activity has an impact on synaptic transmission and short-term plasticity. An activity pattern generated by the cortical network is a slow rhythmic activity that alternates up (active) and down (silent) states, a pattern occurring during slow wave sleep, anesthesia and even in vitro. H...

OBJECTIVE Intracortical inhibition (SICI) and facilitation (ICF) in the human motor cortex can be measured using a paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (ppTMS) protocol. Recently, a technical device has been introduced, which allows recording electroencephalographic (EEG) responses to TMS of a given scalp site. The latency, amplitude and scalp topography of such responses are consider...

Introduction: Effect of tripolar TENS of vertebral column on slow and fast motoneurons (MNs) activity of soleus muscle was previously investigated. In this study for better differentiation of the behavior of slow and fast MNs, we exploited H-reflex recovery curve recording in two muscles of soleus and lateral gastrocnemius, respectively as the representatives of slow and fast muscles. Meth...

Schaffer collateral synapses in hippocampus show target-cell specific short-term plasticity. Using GFP-expressing Inhibitory Neuron (GIN) transgenic mice that express enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) in a subset of somatostatin-containing interneurons (SOM interneurons), we previously showed that Schaffer collateral synapses onto SOM interneurons in stratum (S.) radiatum have unusually...

Short-term synaptic plasticity is induced by calcium (Ca(2+)) accumulating in presynaptic nerve terminals during repetitive action potentials. Regulation of voltage-gated CaV2.1 Ca(2+) channels by Ca(2+) sensor proteins induces facilitation of Ca(2+) currents and synaptic facilitation in cultured neurons expressing exogenous CaV2.1 channels. However, it is unknown whether this mechanism contrib...

We previously found that long-term potentiation (LTP) in the dentate gyrus (DG) is attenuated by lesion of the basolateral amygdala (BLA), but it remained unclear whether or not there is neural connection between the BLA and the DG. In the present study, we tried to provide physiological evidence that the DG receives neural inputs from the BLA. Single-pulse electrical stimulation of the BLA evo...

In layers 2/3 in the rat visual cortex, glutamatergic synapses, between pyramidal neurons and GABAergic interneurons, show target-specific depression or facilitation. To study the mechanisms regulating these short-term synaptic modifications, we recorded from synaptically connected pyramidal neurons (presynaptic) and multipolar or bitufted interneurons (postsynaptic). Evoked AMPA receptor (AMPA...

Selecting the adequate alternative in choice situations may involve an inhibition process. Here we assessed response implementation during the reaction time of a between-hand choice task with single- or paired-pulse (3 or 15 ms interstimulus intervals [ISIs]) transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex. The amplitude of the single-pulse motor evoked potential (MEP) initially increased...

The enhancement of cognitive function in healthy subjects by medication, training or intervention yields increasing political, social and ethical attention. In this paper facilitatory effects of single-pulse TMS and repetitive TMS on a simple picture naming task are presented. A significant shortening of picture naming latencies was observed after single-pulse TMS over Wernicke's area. The accu...