In vitro characterization of the thermoneutral transient receptor potential vanilloid-1 (TRPV1) inhibitor GRTE16523.

The TRPV1 ion channel is a neuronal sensor that plays an important role in nociception and neuropathic as well as inflammatory pain. In clinical trials, hyperthermia and thermo-hypoaesthesia turned out as major side effects of TRPV1 antagonists, preventing successful development of such molecules as analgesics. In vitro studies demonstrated that the TRPV1 ion channel is a polymodal sensor integrating stimuli from molecular modulators with temperature, pH and transmembrane potential.

Multiplexing using synchrony in the zebrafish olfactory bulb.

In the olfactory bulb (OB) of zebrafish and other species, odors evoke fast oscillatory population activity and specific firing rate patterns across mitral cells (MCs). This activity evolves over a few hundred milliseconds from the onset of the odor stimulus. Action potentials of odor-specific MC subsets phase-lock to the oscillation, defining small and distributed ensembles within the MC population output.

AII amacrine cells express L-type calcium channels at their output synapses.

AII amacrine cells play a critical role in the high-fidelity signal transmission pathways involved with nighttime vision. The temporal properties of the light responses strongly depend on the transfer function at different synaptic stages and consequently on presynaptic calcium influx. AII light responses are complex waveforms generated by graded input, they comprise Na+-based spikes as well as a sustained component, and they are transferred to graded cone bipolar cells.