Unveiling the electron-induced ionization cross sections and fragmentation mechanisms of 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran.

The interactions of electrons with molecular systems under various conditions are essential to interdisciplinary research fields extending over the fundamental and applied sciences. In particular, investigating electron-induced ionization and dissociation of molecules may shed light on the radiation damage to living cells, the physicochemical processes in interstellar environments, and reaction mechanisms occurring in combustion or plasma. We have, therefore, studied electron-induced ionization and dissociation of the gas phase 3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran (DHP), a cyclic ether appearing to be a viable moiety for developing efficient clinical pharmacokinetics and revealing the mechanisms of biofuel combustion.

Interneuronal dynamics facilitate the initiation of spike block in cortical microcircuits.

Pyramidal cell spike block is a common occurrence in migraine with aura and epileptic seizures. In both cases, pyramidal cells experience hyperexcitation with rapidly increasing firing rates, major changes in electrochemistry, and ultimately spike block that temporarily terminates neuronal activity. In cortical spreading depression (CSD), spike block propagates as a slowly traveling wave of inactivity through cortical pyramidal cells, which is thought to precede migraine attacks with aura.

The dynamic range of voltage-dependent gap junction signaling is maintained by -induced membrane potential depolarization.

Like their chemical counterparts, electrical synapses show complex dynamics such as rectification and voltage dependence that interact with other electrical processes in neurons. The consequences arising from these interactions for the electrical behavior of the synapse, and the dynamics they create, remain largely unexplored. Using a voltage-dependent electrical synapse between a descending modulatory projection neuron (MCN1) and a motor neuron (LG) in the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion, we find that the influence of the hyperpolarization-activated inward current () is critical to the function of the electrical synapse.

Bifurcation transitions in gap-junction-coupled neurons.

Here we investigate transitions occurring in the dynamical states of pairs of distinct neurons electrically coupled, with one neuron tonic and the other bursting. Depending on the dynamics of the individual neurons, and for strong enough coupling, they synchronize either in a tonic or a bursting regime, or initially tonic transitioning to bursting via a period doubling cascade. Certain intrinsic properties of the individual neurons such as minimum firing rates are carried over into the dynamics of the coupled neurons affecting their ultimate synchronous state.