Search results for " glutamate"
showing 10 items of 97 documents
Prenatal exposure to the CB1 receptor agonist WIN 55,212-2 causes learning disruption associated with impaired cortical NMDA receptor function and em…
2005
The aim of this study was to investigate whether prenatal exposure to the cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonist WIN 55,212-2 (WIN) at a daily dose devoid of overt signs of toxicity and/or gross malformations (0.5 mg/kg, gestation days 5-20), influences cortical glutamatergic neurotransmission, learning and emotional reactivity in rat offspring. Basal and K+-evoked extracellular glutamate levels were significantly lower in cortical cell cultures obtained from pups exposed to WIN during gestation with respect to those measured in cultures obtained from neonates born from vehicle-treated dams. The addition of NMDA to cortical cell cultures from neonates born from vehicle-treated dams concentration-…
Synthesis, resolution, stereochemistry, and molecular modeling of (R)- and (S)-2-acetyl-1-(4’-chlorophenyl)-6,7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinol…
2007
Abstract Recently we identified ( R , S )-2-acetyl-1-(4′-chlorophenyl)-6,7-dimethoxy-1,2,3,4-tetrahydroisoquinoline ( 6 ) as a potent non-competitive AMPA receptor antagonist able to prevent epileptic seizures. We report here the optimized synthesis of compound 6 , its resolution by chiral preparative HPLC, and the absolute configuration of ( R )-enantiomer established by X-ray diffractometry. The biological tests of the single enantiomers revealed that higher anticonvulsant and antagonistic effects reside in ( R )-enantiomer as also suggested by molecular modeling studies.
An olfactory receptor for food-derived odours promotes male courtship in Drosophila.
2011
International audience; Many animals attract mating partners through the release of volatile sex pheromones, which can convey information on the species, gender and receptivity of the sender to induce innate courtship and mating behaviours by the receiver. Male Drosophila melanogaster fruitflies display stereotyped reproductive behaviours towards females, and these behaviours are controlled by the neural circuitry expressing male-specific isoforms of the transcription factor Fruitless (FRU(M)). However, the volatile pheromone ligands, receptors and olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that promote male courtship have not been identified in this important model organism. Here we describe a novel…
Chronic fluoxetine treatment alters the structure, connectivity and plasticity of cortical interneurons
2014
Novel hypotheses suggest that antidepressants, such as the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine, induce neuronal structural plasticity, resembling that of the juvenile brain, although the underlying mechanisms of this reopening of the critical periods still remain unclear. However, recent studies suggest that inhibitory networks play an important role in this structural plasticity induced by fluoxetine. For this reason we have analysed the effects of a chronic fluoxetine treatment in the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of transgenic mice displaying eGFP labelled interneurons. We have found an increase in the expression of molecules related to critical period pla…
Convergence of Cortical and Sensory Driver Inputs on Single Thalamocortical Cells
2013
Ascending and descending information is relayed through the thalamus via strong, "driver" pathways. According to our current knowledge, different driver pathways are organized in parallel streams and do not interact at the thalamic level. Using an electron microscopic approach combined with optogenetics and in vivo physiology, we examined whether driver inputs arising from different sources can interact at single thalamocortical cells in the rodent somatosensory thalamus (nucleus posterior, POm). Both the anatomical and the physiological data demonstrated that ascending driver inputs from the brainstem and descending driver inputs from cortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons converge and interac…
Optical release of caged glutamate for stimulation of neurons in the in vitro slice preparation
2005
Optical stimulation techniques prove useful to map func- tional inputs in the in vitro brain slice preparation: Glutamate released by a focused beam of UV light induces action potentials, which can be detected in postsynaptic neurons. The direct activation effect is influenced by factors such as compound concentration, focus depth, light absorption in the tissue, and sensitivity of different neuronal do- mains. We analyze information derived from direct stimulation ex- periments in slices from rat barrel cortex and construct a computa- tional model of a layer V pyramidal neuron that reproduces the experimental findings. The model predictions concerning the influ- ence of focus depth on inpu…
Indicaxanthin from Opuntia ficus-indica Crosses the Blood–Brain Barrier and Modulates Neuronal Bioelectric Activity in Rat Hippocampus at Dietary-Con…
2015
Indicaxanthin is a bioactive and bioavailable betalain pigment from the Opuntia ficus-indica fruits. In this in vivo study, kinetic measurements showed that indicaxanthin is revealed in the rat brain within 1 h from oral administration of 2 μmol/ kg, an amount compatible with a dietary consumption of cactus pear fruits in humans. A peak (20 ± 2.4 ng of indicaxanthin per whole brain) was measured after 2.5 h; thereafter the molecule disappeared with first order kinetics within 4 h. The potential of indicaxanthin to affect neural activities was in vivo investigated by a microiontophoretic approach. Indicaxanthin, administered in a range between 0.085 ng and 0.34 ng per neuron, dose-dependentl…
Effects of CNQX and MPEP on sensitization to the rewarding effects of morphine
2011
The present study was conducted to evaluate the influence of the glutamatergic receptors α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and metabotropic glutamate 5 (mGlu5) receptors on sensitization to the rewarding effects of morphine. The effects of pre-treatment with saline or 20 mg/kg morphine plus the AMPA receptor antagonist 6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione (CNQX) (5 or 10 mg/kg) or the metabotropic Glu5 receptor antagonist 6-methyl-2-(phenylethynyl)-pyridine (MPEP) (5 or 10 mg/kg) on the place conditioning induced by a low dose of morphine (2 mg/kg) were assessed. The 2 mg/kg dose of morphine was ineffective in animals pre-treated with saline but induced a clear con…
Oligodendrocyte precursor cells modulate the neuronal network by activity-dependent ectodomain cleavage of glial NG2.
2014
The role of glia in modulating neuronal network activity is an important question. Oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPC) characteristically express the transmembrane proteoglycan nerve-glia antigen 2 (NG2) and are unique glial cells receiving synaptic input from neurons. The development of NG2+ OPC into myelinating oligodendrocytes has been well studied, yet the retention of a large population of synapse-bearing OPC in the adult brain poses the question as to additional functional roles of OPC in the neuronal network. Here we report that activity-dependent processing of NG2 by OPC-expressed secretases functionally regulates the neuronal network. NG2 cleavage by the α-secretase ADAM10 yields…
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor But Not Forced Arm Use Improves Long-Term Outcome After Photothrombotic Stroke and Transiently Upregulates Binding …
2008
Background and Purpose— Both application of neurotrophic factors like brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and constraint-induced movement therapy like forced arm use have been shown to potentially improve outcome after stroke. The aim of the present study was to check whether postischemic long-term outcome correlates to specific modifications in the abundance of various neurotransmitter receptors. Methods— Adult male Wistar rats were subjected to photothrombotic ischemia and assigned to various treatment groups (n=5 each) with end points at 3 and 6 weeks: (1) ischemic control (saline); (2) BDNF (ischemia, 20 μg BDNF); (3) forced arm use (ischemia, saline, and ipsilateral plaster cast …