Activity-Dependent Internalization of Glun2B-Containing NMDARS Is Required For Synaptic Incorporation of Glun2A And Synaptic Plasticity.

NMDA-type glutamate receptors are heterotetrameric complexes composed of two GluN1 and two GluN2 subunits. The precise composition of the GluN2 subunits determines the channel's biophysical properties and influences its interaction with postsynaptic scaffolding proteins and signaling molecules involved in synaptic physiology and plasticity. The precise regulation of NMDAR subunit composition at synapses is crucial for proper synaptogenesis, neuronal circuit development, and synaptic plasticity, a cellular model of memory formation.

Office-based ureteric stent removal is achievable, improves clinical flexibility and quality of care, whilst also keeping surgeons close to their patients.

Introduction: Diagnostic pressure on endoscopy suites can result in stent removal not receiving the required priority and unnecessary morbidity for patients. As well as using stents with extraction strings, the introduction of a portable single-use flexible cystoscope for ureteric stent removal (Isiris™), offered an opportunity to negotiate these issues by relocating stent removal to the office/clinic. This study aimed to determine whether such flexibility reduced stent dwell time with the assumption this would improve patient experience and decrease associated complications.

Role for 2D image generated 3D face models in the rehabilitation of facial palsy.

The outcome for patients diagnosed with facial palsy has been shown to be linked to rehabilitation. Dense 3D morphable models have been shown within the computer vision to create accurate representations of human faces even from single 2D images. This has the potential to provide feedback to both the patient and medical expert dealing with the rehabilitation plan.

Nicotine Modifies Corticostriatal Plasticity and Amphetamine Rewarding Behaviors in Mice(1,2,3).

Corticostriatal signaling participates in sensitized responses to drugs of abuse, where short-term increases in dopamine availability provoke persistent, yet reversible, changes in glutamate release. Prior studies in mice show that amphetamine withdrawal promotes a chronic presynaptic depression in glutamate release, whereas an amphetamine challenge reverses this depression by potentiating corticostriatal activity in direct pathway medium spiny neurons. This synaptic plasticity promotes corticostriatal activity and locomotor sensitization through upstream changes in the activity of tonically active cholinergic interneurons (ChIs).

Acetylcholine encodes long-lasting presynaptic plasticity at glutamatergic synapses in the dorsal striatum after repeated amphetamine exposure.

Locomotion and cue-dependent behaviors are modified through corticostriatal signaling whereby short-term increases in dopamine availability can provoke persistent changes in glutamate release that contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders, including Parkinson's disease and drug dependence. We found that withdrawal of mice from repeated amphetamine treatment caused a chronic presynaptic depression (CPD) in glutamate release that was most pronounced in corticostriatal terminals with a low probability of release and lasted >50 d in treated mice. An amphetamine challenge reversed CPD via a dopamine D1-receptor-dependent paradoxical presynaptic potentiation (PPP) that increased corticostriatal activity in direct pathway medium spiny neurons.