Developmental dynamics of PAFAH1B subunits during mouse brain development.
Platelet-activating factor (PAF) mediates an array of biological processes in the mammalian central nervous system as a bioactive lipid messenger in synaptic function and dysfunction (plasticity, memory, and neurodegeneration). The intracellular enzyme that deacetylates the PAF (PAFAH1B) is composed of a tetramer of two catalytic subunits, ALPHA1 (PAFAH1B3) and ALPHA2 (PAFAH1B2), and a regulatory dimer of LIS1 (PAFAH1B1). We have investigated the mouse PAFAH1B subunit genes during brain development in normal mice and in mice with a hypomorphic allele for Lis1 (Lis1/sLis1; Cahana et al. [2001] Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 98:6429–6434). We have analyzed quantitatively (by means of real-time poly…
Overview of the History of the Cranial Nerves: From Galen to the 21st Century
Throughout history the description and classification of the cranial nerves has been linked to the development and characteristics of anatomy and the role that it played as a tool in providing rationality to medicine, together with social, cultural, religious, and philosophical factors. Anatomists were interested in the cranial nerves, but they disagreed on their number and their paths. We can divide the history of the cranial nerves into three different periods: the first, early or macroscopic period; the second or microscopic period; and the third period or ontogenesis and genoarchitecture. The main aim of this article is to show how the description and knowledge of the cranial nerves wer…
Postnatal alterations of the inhibitory synaptic responses recorded from cortical pyramidal neurons in the Lis1/sLis1 mutant mouse
Mutations in the mouse Lis1 gene produce severe alterations in the developing cortex. We have examined some electrophysiological responses of cortical pyramidal neurons during the early postnatal development of Lis/sLis1 mutant mice. In P7 and P30 Lis1/sLis1 neurons we detected a lower frequency and slower decay phase of mIPSCs, and at P30 the mIPSCs amplitude and the action potential duration were reduced. Zolpidem (an agonist of GABAA receptors containing the alpha1 subunit) neither modified the amplitude nor the decay time of mIPSCs at P7 in Lis1/sLis1 neurons, whereas it increased the decay time at P30. The levels of GABAA receptor alpha1 subunit mRNA were reduced in the Lis1/sLis1 brai…