EMBO J 30 7, 1376–1388 (2011); published online February 08 2011 neuroscientists are on track to describe the world's first functional connectome. The work by Ohnishi et al (2011) is an excellent example of this effort. Characterizing glutamatergic transmission within the neural circuit controlling locomotion in thermal gradients, they found that two thermosensory neurons, AFD and AWC, transmitted glutamate signals of opposite polarity to downstream interneuron AIY. The inhibitory glutamatergic signal from AFD promoted cryophilic locomotion, while the excitatory glutamatergic signal from AWC promoted thermophilic locomotion. The balance between these opposing transmissions determined temperature preference. Understanding information processing in the simplest of circuits will give insights into the workings of more complex neural networks.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/emboj.2011.71 | DOI Listing |
Alzheimers Res Ther
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience "Rita Levi Montalcini", University of Turin, Via Cherasco 15, Turin, 10126, Italy.
Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with both genetic and environmental factors contributing to its pathogenesis. While early-onset AD has well-established genetic determinants, the genetic basis for late-onset AD remains less clear. This study investigates a large Italian family with late-onset autosomal dominant AD, identifying a novel rare missense variant in GRIN2C gene associated with the disease, and evaluates the functional impact of this variant.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Neurosci
January 2025
Department of Neuroscience, Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute, West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, WV, USA.
Synaptically released zinc is a neuronal signaling system that arises from the actions of the presynaptic vesicular zinc transporter protein ZnT3. Mechanisms that regulate the actions of zinc at synapses are of great importance for many aspects of synaptic signaling in the brain. Here, we identify the astrocytic zinc transporter protein ZIP12 as a candidate mechanism that contributes to zinc clearance at cortical synapses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPharmacol Biochem Behav
January 2025
Department of Psychology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85257, United States of America. Electronic address:
Glutamatergic signaling is one of the primary targets of actions of alcohol in the brain, and dysregulated excitatory transmission in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) may contribute problematic drinking and relapse. A prominent component of glutamate signaling is the type 5 metabotropic glutamate (mGlu5) receptor. However, little is known about the role of this receptor type in subregions of the PFC that regulate either alcohol intake or alcohol-seeking behavior.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Genet
January 2025
Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America.
Social hierarchies are a common form of social organization across species. Although hierarchies are largely stable across time, animals may socially ascend or descend within hierarchies depending on environmental and social challenges. Here, we develop a novel paradigm to study social ascent and descent within male CD-1 mouse social hierarchies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPLoS Comput Biol
January 2025
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
Astrocytes critically shape whole-brain structure and function by forming extensive gap junctional networks that intimately and actively interact with neurons. Despite their importance, existing computational models of whole-brain activity ignore the roles of astrocytes while primarily focusing on neurons. Addressing this oversight, we introduce a biophysical neural mass network model, designed to capture the dynamic interplay between astrocytes and neurons via glutamatergic and GABAergic transmission pathways.
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