Publications by authors named "Katherine Jakubs"

We have previously shown that following severe brain insults, chronic inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection, and status epilepticus, new dentate granule cells exhibit changes of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic drive indicating that they may mitigate the abnormal brain function. Major inflammatory changes in the environment encountering the new neurons were a common feature of these insults. Here, we have asked how the morphology and electrophysiology of new neurons are affected by a comparably mild pathology: repetitive seizures causing hyperexcitability but not inflammation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Infant rats require maternal odor learning to guide pups' proximity-seeking of the mother and nursing. Maternal odor learning occurs using a simple learning circuit including robust olfactory bulb norepinephrine (NE), release from the locus ceruleus (LC), and amygdala suppression by low corticosterone (CORT). Early-life stress increases NE but also CORT, and we questioned whether early-life stress disrupted attachment learning and its neural correlates [2-deoxyglucose (2-DG) autoradiography].

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammation influences several steps of adult neurogenesis, but whether it regulates the functional integration of the new neurons is unknown. Here, we explored, using confocal microscopy and whole-cell patch-clamp recordings, whether a chronic inflammatory environment affects the morphological and electrophysiological properties of new dentate gyrus granule cells, labeled with a retroviral vector encoding green fluorescent protein. Rats were exposed to intrahippocampal injection of lipopolysaccharide, which gave rise to long-lasting microglia activation.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Neural progenitors in the adult dentate gyrus continuously produce new functional granule cells. Here we used whole-cell patch-clamp recordings to explore whether a pathological environment influences synaptic properties of new granule cells labeled with a GFP-retroviral vector. Rats were exposed to a physiological stimulus, i.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), aside from its classic neurotrophic role in development and survival of neurons, has been shown to be involved in modification and plasticity of central synapses. In mice with BDNF gene deletion (BDNF+/-), deficits in synaptic transmission are often observed but are reversed readily by administration of BDNF, suggesting its acute effect. In support, blockade of BDNF signaling in wild-type hippocampal slices by TrkB-IgG closely reproduces synaptic alterations observed in BDNF+/- mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF