Characterization of L-type calcium channel activity in atrioventricular nodal myocytes from rats with streptozotocin-induced Diabetes mellitus.

Cardiovascular complications are common in patients with Diabetes mellitus (DM). In addition to changes in cardiac muscle inotropy, electrical abnormalities are also commonly observed in these patients. We have previously shown that spontaneous cellular electrical activity is altered in atrioventricular nodal (AVN) myocytes, isolated from the streptozotocin (STZ) rat model of type-1 DM.

Background synaptic activity in rat entorhinal cortex shows a progressively greater dominance of inhibition over excitation from deep to superficial layers.

The entorhinal cortex (EC) controls hippocampal input and output, playing major roles in memory and spatial navigation. Different layers of the EC subserve different functions and a number of studies have compared properties of neurones across layers. We have studied synaptic inhibition and excitation in EC neurones, and we have previously compared spontaneous synaptic release of glutamate and GABA using patch clamp recordings of synaptic currents in principal neurones of layers II (L2) and V (L5).

Safety methodology in pediatric psychopharmacology trials.

In recent years, there has been an increase in pediatric clinical trials as the result of an identified need for greater research with this population. Given the potential risks, and the vulnerability of the population, there has also been an identified need for greater safety elicitation and monitoring in pediatric psychopharmacology trials, for example, through the use of a data and safety monitoring board (DSMB). However, research indicates that pediatric trials and psychiatric trials are less likely to use a DSMB.

Smooth muscle Ca(2+) -activated and voltage-gated K+ channels modulate conducted dilation in rat isolated small mesenteric arteries.

Objective:   To assess the influence of blocking smooth muscle large conductance Ca(2+) -activated K+ channels and voltage-gated K+ channels on the conducted dilation to ACh and isoproterenol.

Materials And Methods:   Rat mesenteric arteries were isolated with a bifurcation, triple-cannulated, pressurized and imaged using confocal microscopy. Phenylephrine was added to the superfusate to generate tone, and agonists perfused into a sidebranch to evoke local dilation and subsequent conducted dilation into the feed artery.