Under stressful conditions activation of the ionotropic P2X7 receptor differentially regulates GABA and glutamate release from nerve terminals of the rat cerebral cortex.

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (Glu) are the main inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters in the central nervous system (CNS), respectively. Fine tuning regulation of extracellular levels of these amino acids is essential for normal brain activity. Recently, we showed that neocortical nerve terminals from patients with epilepsy express higher amounts of the non-desensitizing ionotropic P2X7 receptor.

Adenosine A receptor and ecto-5'-nucleotidase/CD73 are upregulated in hippocampal astrocytes of human patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE).

Refractoriness to existing medications of up to 80 % of the patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) prompts for finding new antiepileptic drug targets. The adenosine A receptor emerges as an interesting pharmacological target since its excitatory nature partially counteracts the dominant antiepileptic role of endogenous adenosine acting via inhibitory A receptors. Gain of function of the excitatory A receptor has been implicated in a significant number of brain pathologies commonly characterized by neuronal excitotoxicity.

Up-regulation of P2X7 receptor-mediated inhibition of GABA uptake by nerve terminals of the human epileptic neocortex.

Objective: Thirty percent of patients with epilepsy are refractory to medication. The majority of these patients have mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). This prompts for new pharmacologic targets, like ATP-mediated signaling pathways, since the extracellular levels of the nucleotide dramatically increase during in vitro epileptic seizures.

Calcium signaling and the novel anti-proliferative effect of the UTP-sensitive P2Y11 receptor in rat cardiac myofibroblasts.

During myocardial ischemia and reperfusion both purines and pyrimidines are released into the extracellular milieu, thus creating a signaling wave that propagates to neighboring cells via membrane-bound P2 purinoceptors activation. Cardiac fibroblasts (CF) are important players in heart remodeling, electrophysiological changes and hemodynamic alterations following myocardial infarction. Here, we investigated the role UTP on calcium signaling and proliferation of CF cultured from ventricles of adult rats.