apterous Brain Neurons Control Receptivity to Male Courtship in Drosophila Melanogaster Females.

Courtship behaviours allow animals to interact and display their qualities before committing to reproduction. In fly courtship, the female decides whether or not to mate and is thought to display receptivity by slowing down to accept the male. Very little is known on the neuronal brain circuitry controlling female receptivity.

Role of the proteasome in excitotoxicity-induced cleavage of glutamic acid decarboxylase in cultured hippocampal neurons.

Glutamic acid decarboxylase is responsible for synthesizing GABA, the major inhibitory neurotransmitter, and exists in two isoforms--GAD65 and GAD67. The enzyme is cleaved under excitotoxic conditions, but the mechanisms involved and the functional consequences are not fully elucidated. We found that excitotoxic stimulation of cultured hippocampal neurons with glutamate leads to a time-dependent cleavage of GAD65 and GAD67 in the N-terminal region of the proteins, and decrease the corresponding mRNAs.