Hippocampal astrocytic neogenin regulating glutamate uptake, a critical pathway for preventing epileptic response.

Epilepsy, a common neurological disorder, is featured with recurrent seizures. Its underlying pathological mechanisms remain elusive. Here, we provide evidence for loss of neogenin (NEO1), a coreceptor for multiple ligands, including netrins and bone morphological proteins, in the development of epilepsy.

Selective activation of cholinergic basal forebrain neurons induces immediate sleep-wake transitions.

The basal forebrain (BF) plays a crucial role in cortical activation [1, 2]. However, the exact role of cholinergic BF (ch-BF) neurons in the sleep-wake cycle remains unclear [3, 4]. We demonstrated that photostimulation of ch-BF neurons genetically targeted with channelrhodopsin 2 (ChR2) was sufficient to induce an immediate transition to waking or rapid eye movement (REM) sleep from slow-wave sleep (SWS).

Simplified protocol for isolation of multipotential NG2 cells from postnatal mouse.

Background: The functions of NG2 cells have attracted much attention since they were identified. At present, our understanding of their properties and functions is still limited due to the lack of an easy protocol for isolating them from mice.

New Method: In the present study, in postnatal mouse cortical tissue cultures, cell confluence was achieved at DIV 6-8 by frequently changing the medium in the absence of viable neurons, and abundant NG2 cells grew on top of the astrocyte layer before microglia started to thrive.