Retinal projections to the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) in ferrets progressively segregate into eye-specific laminae and subsequently into sublaminae that receive inputs from either ON-center or OFF-center afferents. To study the development of synaptic efficacy during a period of activity-dependent growth and reorganization in the CNS, we recorded spontaneous EPSCs (sEPSCs) from cells of t...

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)-synthesizing neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) play a key role in the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). We used whole-cell patchclamping to record spontaneous and miniature excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sEPSCs/mEPSCs and sIPSCs/mIPSCs) from parvocellular neuroendocrine neurons of the rat ...

Silent synapses are excitatory synapses endowed exclusively with N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) responses that have been proposed to acquire alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) responses during development and after long-term potentiation (LTP). These synapses are functionally silent because of the Mg(2+) block of NMDA receptors at resting potentials. Here we provide ev...

Introduction: In the present work, spontaneous postsynaptic currents were assessed to investigate the postnatal development of excitatory postsynaptic currents in locus coeruleus neurons. Methods: In this study, AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated spontaneous synaptic currents in the neurons of locus coeruleus were assessed using whole cell voltage-clamp recording during the first three weeks. Resu...

Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH)-synthesizing parvocellular neuroendocrine neurons of the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN) play a key role in the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). It is well known that excitatory and inhibitory inputs that regulate the activity of these neurons may undergo stress-related modifications; however, the effect of repeated re...

OBJECTIVES Opioids and cannabinoids are two important compounds that have been shown to influence the activity of magnocellular neurons (MCNs) of supraoptic nucleus (SON). The interaction between opioidergic and cannabinoidergic systems in various structures of the brain and spinal cord is now well established, but not in the MCNs of SON. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, whole cell patch ...

In isolation, a presynaptic terminal generally releases quanta according to Poisson statistics, but in a circuit its release statistics might be shaped by synaptic interactions. We monitored quantal glutamate release from retinal bipolar cell terminals (which receive GABA-ergic feedback from amacrine cells) by recording spontaneous EPSCs (sEPSCs) in their postsynaptic amacrine and ganglion cell...

Spontaneous inhibitory and excitatory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs and sEPSCs) were identified and characterized with whole cell and perforated patch voltage-clamp recordings in adult mouse retinal ganglion cells. Pharmacological dissection revealed that all cells were driven by spontaneous synaptic inputs mediated by glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid-A (GABAA) receptors. One-half (7/14) o...

Introduction: In the present work, spontaneous postsynaptic currents were assessed to investigate the postnatal development of excitatory postsynaptic currents in locus coeruleus neurons. Methods: In this study, AMPA and NMDA receptor-mediated spontaneous synaptic currents in the neurons of locus coeruleus were assessed using whole cell voltage-clamp recording during the first three weeks. ...

Objective(s): Opioids and cannabinoids are two important compounds that have been shown to influence the activity of magnocellular neurons (MCNs) of supraoptic nucleus (SON). The interaction between opioidergic and cannabinoidergic systems in various structures of the brain and spinal cord is now well established, but not in the MCNs of SON. Materials and methods: In this study, whole cell pat...