Incompatibility of connexin 40 and 43 Hemichannels in gap junctions between mammalian cells is determined by intracellular domains.
AuthorsHaubrich S, Schwarz HJ, Bukauskas F, Lichtenberg-Fraté H, Traub O, Weingart R, Willecke K
JournalMol Biol Cell
PubMed ID8970160
'Murine connexin 40 (Cx40) and connexin 43 (Cx43) do not form functional heterotypic gap junction channels. This property may contribute to the preferential propagation of action potentials in murine conductive myocardium (expressing Cx40) which is surrounded by working myocardium, expressing Cx43. When mouse Cx40 and Cx43 were individually expressed in ... More
Using laser scanning confocal microscopy as a guide for electron microscopic study: a simple method for correlation of light and electron microscopy.
AuthorsSun XJ, Tolbert LP, Hildebrand JG
JournalJ Histochem Cytochem
PubMed ID7868862
'Anatomic study of synaptic connections in the nervous system is laborious and difficult, especially when neurons are large or have fine branches embedded among many other processes. Although electron microscopy provides a powerful tool for such study, the correlation of light microscopic appearance and electron microscopic detail is very time-consuming. ... More
Long aboral projections of Dogiel type II, AH neurons within the myenteric plexus of the guinea pig small intestine.
AuthorsBrookes SJ, Song ZM, Ramsay GA, Costa M
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID7751962
'Enteric AH neurons, with multipolar Dogiel type II morphology, project around the circumference of the intestine to myenteric ganglia, the submucosa and mucosa. Using retrograde labeling in vitro, intracellular recording, dye filling and immunohistochemistry, the projections of these neurons along the intestine were studied. When the retrograde tracer, Dil, was ... More
Neuronal coupling in the developing mammalian retina.
AuthorsPenn AA, Wong RO, Shatz CJ
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID8207489
'During the first 3 weeks of postnatal development in the ferret retina, cells in the ganglion cell layer spontaneously generate waves of electrical activity that travel across the retina in the absence of mature photoreceptors (Meister et al., 1991; Wong et al., 1993). Since few chemical synapses are present at ... More
Intracellular astrocyte calcium waves in situ increase the frequency of spontaneous AMPA receptor currents in CA1 pyramidal neurons.
AuthorsFiacco TA, McCarthy KD
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID14736858
'Spontaneous neurotransmitter release and activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) each play a role in the plasticity of neuronal synapses. Astrocytes may contribute to short- and long-term synaptic changes by signaling to neurons via these processes. Spontaneous whole-cell AMPA receptor (AMPAR) currents were recorded in CA1 pyramidal cells ... More
Gap junctional communication in the early Xenopus embryo.
AuthorsLandesman Y, Goodenough DA, Paul DL
JournalJ Cell Biol
PubMed ID10953017
'In the Xenopus embryo, blastomeres are joined by gap junctions that allow the movement of small molecules between neighboring cells. Previous studies using Lucifer yellow (LY) have reported asymmetries in the patterns of junctional communication suggesting involvement in dorso-ventral patterning. To explore that relationship, we systematically compared the transfer of ... More
Correlation of electrophysiological and morphological characteristics of myenteric neurons of the duodenum in the guinea-pig.
AuthorsClerc N, Furness JB, Bornstein JC, Kunze WA
JournalNeuroscience
PubMed ID9483544
'Intracellular recording, dye filling and immunohistochemistry were used to investigate neurons of the proximal duodenum of the guinea-pig. Recordings were made from neurons of the myenteric plexus in the presence of nicardipine to quell muscle contractions, using microelectrodes that contained the marker substance Neurobiotin. Preparations were subsequently processed histochemically to ... More
Low-conductance intercellular coupling between mouse chromaffin cells in situ.
AuthorsMoser T
JournalJ Physiol
PubMed ID9481681
'1. Patch-clamp experiments were used to compare membrane properties of mouse chromaffin cells in thin tissue slices and of isolated cells in primary culture. The mean membrane input resistance (R(in)) and membrane capacitance were 3.1 +/- 0.6 G omega and 9.1 +/- 0.5 pF in situ and 9.9 +/- 1.8 ... More
Somatodendritic and axonal anatomy of intracellularly labeled serotonergic neurons in the rat medulla.
AuthorsGao K, Mason P
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9416924
'A knowledge of the anatomy of medullary serotonergic cells is critical to understanding local and brainstem circuits in which these cells participate. Serotonergic neurons (n = 16) were identified, as previously described (Mason [1997] J. Neurophysiol. 77:1087-1098) by their slow and steady background discharge in halothane anesthetized rats. Neurons were ... More
Cellular basis for the response to second-order motion cues in Y retinal ganglion cells.
AuthorsDemb JB, Zaghloul K, Sterling P
JournalNeuron
PubMed ID11719210
'We perceive motion when presented with spatiotemporal changes in contrast (second-order cue). This requires linear signals to be rectified and then summed in temporal order to compute direction. Although both operations have been attributed to cortex, rectification might occur in retina, prior to the ganglion cell. Here we show that ... More
Combined intracellular injection of Neurobiotin and pre-embedding immunocytochemistry using silver-intensified gold probes in myenteric neurons.
'We have developed methods to examine the neurochemistry of synaptic inputs to individual myenteric neurons labeled by dye injection through intracellular recording electrodes. Myenteric neurons of the guinea-pig ileum were filled with Neurobiotin, fixed, washed in 50% ethanol, exposed to sodium cyanoborohydride, incubated in avidin-biotin-horseradish peroxidase and incubated in antisera ... More
The density and distribution of serotonergic appositions onto identified neurons in the rat rostral ventromedial medulla.
AuthorsPotrebic SB, Mason P, Fields HL
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID7751910
'Neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) contribute to the modulation of nociceptive transmission and to the analgesic effects of opioids. The RVM contains serotonergic terminal arbors, serotonergic neurons and several types of serotonin (5-HT) receptors. Limited evidence suggests that 5-HT acting within RVM decreases nociceptive responsiveness and contributes to ... More
Loss of correlated motor neuron activity during synaptic competition at developing neuromuscular synapses.
AuthorsPersonius KE, Balice-Gordon RJ
JournalNeuron
PubMed ID11516397
'During late stages of neural development, synaptic circuitry is edited by neural activity. At neuromuscular synapses, the transition from multiple to single innervation is modulated by the relative pattern of activity among inputs competing for innervation of the same muscle fiber. While experimental perturbations of activity result in marked changes ... More
Synchronized spontaneous Ca2+ transients in acute anterior pituitary slices.
AuthorsGuérineau NC, Bonnefont X, Stoeckel L, Mollard P
JournalJ Biol Chem
PubMed ID9553096
'We investigated the organization of spontaneous rises in cytosolic free Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) due to electrical activity in acute pituitary slices. Real time confocal imaging revealed that 73% of the cells generated fast peaking spontaneous [Ca2+]i transients. Strikingly, groups of apposing cells enhanced their [Ca2+]i in synchrony with a speed ... More
Physiological identification of pontomedullary serotonergic neurons in the rat.
AuthorsMason P
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID9084584
'Spinal serotonin is derived entirely from bulbar sources and plays an important role in spinal modulatory processes, including pain modulation. Establishing the electrophysiological properties of SEROTONERGIC bulbospinal neurons in the pontomedullary raphe and reticular formation is critical to understanding the physiological role of serotonin in the spinal cord. Neurons were ... More
A series of biotinylated tracers distinguishes three types of gap junction in retina.
AuthorsMills SL, Massey SC
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID11069972
'Gap junctions serve many important roles in various tissues, but their abundance and diversity in neurons is only beginning to be understood. The tracer Neurobiotin has revealed many different networks interconnected by gap junctions in retina. We compared the relative permeabilities of five different retinal gap junctions by measuring their ... More
Neuronal circuitry for comparison of timing in the electrosensory lateral line lobe of the African wave-type electric fish Gymnarchus niloticus.
AuthorsKawasaki M, Guo YX
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID8613805
'An African wave-type electric fish, Gymnarchus, compares timing on the order of microseconds of sensory feedback from from its high-frequency (approximately 400 Hz) electric organ discharges (EODs) received at different parts of its body surfaces. This capability is essential for and demonstrated by the jamming avoidance response (JAR). The organization ... More
A comparison of receptive-field and tracer-coupling size of amacrine and ganglion cells in the rabbit retina.
AuthorsBloomfield SA, Xin D
JournalVis Neurosci
PubMed ID9447695
'Recent studies have shown that amacrine and ganglion cells in the mammalian retina are extensively coupled as revealed by the intercellular movement of the biotinylated tracers biocytin and Neurobiotin. These demonstrations of tracer coupling suggest that electrical networks formed by proximal neurons (i.e. amacrine and ganglion cells) may underlie the ... More
Tracer coupling pattern of amacrine and ganglion cells in the rabbit retina.
AuthorsXin D, Bloomfield SA
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9208996
'We examined the tracer coupling pattern of more than 15 morphological types of amacrine and ganglion cells in the rabbit retina. Individual cells were injected intracellularly with the biotinylated tracer Neurobiotin, which was then allowed to diffuse across gap junctions to label neighboring neurons. We found that homologous and/or heterologous ... More
Bötzinger neurons project towards bulbospinal neurons in the rostral ventrolateral medulla of the rat.
'Sympathetic nerve activity often fluctuates with the respiratory cycle, but the central neurons that impose this respiratory modulation have not been conclusively identified. In the present study, we used intracellular recording and dye-filling to identify expiratory neurons in the Bötzinger complex. Our aim was to see if Bötzinger neurons project ... More
Recruitment of GABAergic inhibition and synchronization of inhibitory interneurons in rat neocortex.
AuthorsBenardo LS
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID9212263
'Intracellular recordings were obtained from pyramidal and interneuronal cells in rat neocortical slices to examine the recruitment of GABAergic inhibition and inhibitory interneurons. In the presence of the convulsant agent 4-aminopyridine (4-AP), after excitatory amino acid (EAA) ionotropic transmission was blocked, large-amplitude triphasic inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) occurred rhythmically (every ... More
Synchronization of fast (30-40 Hz) spontaneous cortical rhythms during brain activation.
AuthorsSteriade M, Amzica F, Contreras D
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID8613806
'We investigated the synchronization of fast spontaneous oscillations (mainly 30-40 Hz) in anesthetized and behaving cats by means of simultaneous extra- and intracellular recordings from multiple neocortical areas. Fast Fourier transforms, auto- and cross-correlations, and spike- or wave-triggered averages were used to determine the frequency and temporal coherence of fast ... More
The mechanisms of generation and propagation of synchronized bursting in developing networks of cortical neurons.
AuthorsMaeda E, Robinson HP, Kawana A
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID7472441
'The characteristics and mechanisms of synchronized firing in developing networks of cultured cortical neurons were studied using multisite recording through planar electrode arrays (PEAs). With maturation of the network (from 3 to 40 d after plating), the frequency and propagation velocity of bursts increased markedly (approximately from 0.01 to 0.5 ... More
In vitro eye-blink reflex model: role of excitatory amino acids and labeling of network activity with sulforhodamine.
AuthorsKeifer J
JournalExp Brain Res
PubMed ID7908648
'Evidence is presented suggesting that the neural correlate of the eye-blink reflex can be evoked in an in vitro brainstem-cerebellum preparation from the turtle by using electrical rather than natural stimulation of cranial nerve inputs. Abducens nerve discharge is triggered by brief electrical stimulation of the ipsilateral trigeminal nerve. This ... More
A biotin-containing compound N-(2-aminoethyl)biotinamide for intracellular labeling and neuronal tracing studies: comparison with biocytin.
AuthorsKita H, Armstrong W
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID1715497
'The hydrochloride salt of a new, small molecular weight (M.W. = 286) biotin-containing compound referred to as biotinamide (N-(2-aminoethyl)biotinamide) was compared with biocytin (M.W. = 372) for its use in intracellular labeling of neurons and in neuronal tracing experiments using avidin conjugates for histochemical detection. The DC resistance and current ... More
Differential properties of two gap junctional pathways made by AII amacrine cells.
AuthorsMills SL, Massey SC
JournalNature
PubMed ID7477263
'The retina is sensitive to light stimuli varying over more than 12 log units in intensity. It accomplishes this, in part, by switching between rod-dominated circuits designed for maximum utilization of scarce photons and cone circuits designed for greater acuity. Rod signals are integrated into the cone pathways through AII ... More
Horizontal cells of the primate retina: cone specificity without spectral opponency.
AuthorsDacey DM, Lee BB, Stafford DK, Pokorny J, Smith VC
JournalScience
PubMed ID8571130
'The chromatic dimensions of human color vision have a neural basis in the retina. Ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina, exhibit spectral opponency; they are excited by some wavelengths and inhibited by others. The hypothesis that the opponent circuitry emerges from selective connections between horizontal cell interneurons and ... More
Projections of submucous neurons to the myenteric plexus in the guinea pig small intestine.
AuthorsSong ZM, Costa M, Brookes SJ
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9721907
'The distribution of submucous neurons that project to the myenteric plexus of the guinea pig small intestine was established by retrograde transport of the carbocyanine dye 1,1''-didodecyl-3,3,3'',3''-tetramethyl indocarbocyanine perchlorate (DiI) from myenteric ganglia in organ culture in combination with immunohistochemistry. Following the application of DiI to the serosal surface of ... More
Neuronal domains in developing neocortex.
AuthorsYuste R, Peinado A, Katz LC
JournalScience
PubMed ID1496379
'The mammalian neocortex consists of a mosaic of columnar units whose development is poorly understood. Optical recordings of brain slices labeled with the fluorescent calcium indicator fura-2 revealed that the neonatal rat cortex was partitioned into distinct domains of spontaneously coactive neurons. In tangential slices, these domains were 50 to ... More
Differential expression of NADPH-diaphorase between electrophysiologically-defined classes of pyramidal neurons in rat ventral subiculum, in vitro.
AuthorsGreene JR, Lin H, Mason AJ, Johnson LR, Totterdell S
JournalNeuroscience
PubMed ID9252224
'The subiculum is the major output region of the hippocampal formation. We have studied pyramidal neurons in slices of rat ventral subiculum to determine if there is a correlation between nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) activity and electrophysiological phenotype. The majority of NADPH-d-positive pyramidal neurons were found in the superficial ... More
Relation between axon morphology in C1 spinal cord and spatial properties of medial vestibulospinal tract neurons in the cat.
AuthorsPerlmutter SI, Iwamoto Y, Barke LF, Baker JF, Peterson BW
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID9425198
'Twenty-one secondary medial vestibulospinal tract neurons were recorded intraaxonally in the ventromedial funiculi of the C1 spinal cord in decerebrate, paralyzed cats. Antidromic stimulation in C6 and the oculomotor nucleus identified the projection pattern of each neuron. Responses to sinusoidal, whole-body rotations in many planes in three-dimensional space were characterized ... More
The use of cluster analysis for cell typing.
AuthorsSchweitzer L, Renehan WE
JournalBrain Res Brain Res Protoc
PubMed ID9385054
'In invertebrates, large neurons, identifiable in each animal, have proven to be useful models for investigating basic neurobiological phenomena. In vertebrates, the number of neurons and the complexity of nervous systems increase and ''identifiability'' is lost. To compensate for this, other approaches must be adopted to study the vertebrate brain. ... More
Intracellular recording from myenteric neurons of the guinea-pig ileum that respond to stretch.
'1. Isolated longitudinal muscle-myenteric plexus preparations from guinea-pig ileum were used to investigate the activity of myenteric neurons when the tissue was stretched in the circumferential direction. Membrane potentials were recorded via flexibly mounted intracellular recording electrodes containing Neurobiotin in 1 M KCl. The preparations were stretched to constant widths ... More
Alterations in electrophysiological activity and dye coupling of striatal spiny and aspiny neurons in dopamine-denervated rat striatum recorded in vivo.
AuthorsOnn SP, Grace AA
JournalSynapse
PubMed ID10380846
'We recently reported that pharmacological manipulations of the dopamine system can produce more than a 4-fold increase in dye coupling between dopaminoceptive neurons in the adult rat striatal complex. During in vivo intracellular recordings, striatal neurons in control rats and in rats that had been treated with 6-hydroxydopamine were injected ... More
AuthorsHenderson TA, Johnson EM, Osborne PA, Jacquin MF
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID8182480
'In the developing nervous system, precisely patterned connections result from mechanisms that remodel initially diffuse connections. For example, ocular dominance column formation depends upon activity-based competitive interactions. In the developing trigeminal (V) somatosensory system, injury to afferent inputs prevents somatotopic pattern formation; however, afferent impulse blockade does not. What establishes ... More
Noncooperativity of biotin binding to tetrameric streptavidin.
AuthorsJones ML, Kurzban GP
JournalBiochemistry
PubMed ID7547907
'Streptavidin tetramers have been separated according to their biotin content by anion exchange chromatography. Biotin-free and biotin-saturated streptavidin were coincubated. Streptavidin at intermediate ligation levels, i.e., with one, two, or three molecules of bound biotin, accumulates over time. A steady state distribution of ligation levels is reached after 2 days. ... More
Evolutionary origins for social vocalization in a vertebrate hindbrain-spinal compartment.
AuthorsBass AH, Gilland EH, Baker R,
JournalScience
PubMed ID18635807
'The macroevolutionary events leading to neural innovations for social communication, such as vocalization, are essentially unexplored. Many fish vocalize during female courtship and territorial defense, as do amphibians, birds, and mammals. Here, we map the neural circuitry for vocalization in larval fish and show that the vocal network develops in ... More
The use of amphipols as universal molecular adapters to immobilize membrane proteins onto solid supports.
'Because of the importance of their physiological functions, cell membranes represent critical targets in biological research. Membrane proteins, which make up approximately 1/3 of the proteome, interact with a wide range of small ligands and macromolecular partners as well as with foreign molecules such as synthetic drugs, antibodies, toxins, or ... More
The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpu protein enhances membrane permeability.
AuthorsGonzález ME, Carrasco L
JournalBiochemistry
PubMed ID9753459
'Infection of T lymphocytes by the human immunodeficiency virus causes drastic alterations in the intracellular cation content of the infected cells. The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 genome encodes several accessory proteins, including Vpu, an integral membrane protein that forms ion channels in planar lipid bilayers. The effect of Vpu ... More
Many diverse types of retinal neurons show tracer coupling when injected with biocytin or Neurobiotin.
AuthorsVaney DI
JournalNeurosci Lett
PubMed ID1715532
This study demonstrates that the junctional connections between rod-signal interneurons in mammalian retina can be visualized by tracer coupling, following intracellular injection of the biotinylated compounds, biocytin and Neurobiotin. In addition, many other types of retinal neurons -including B-type horizontal cells and several types of retinal ganglion cells-show specific patterns ... More
Photochromic intensification of diaminobenzidine reaction product in the presence of tetrazolium salts: applications for intracellular labelling and immunohistochemistry.
AuthorsVaney DI
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID1474853
The diaminobenzidine (DAB) reaction product can be greatly intensified by incubating the reacted tissue in either nitro blue tetrazolium or tetranitro blue tetrazolium and then exposing the tissue to strong light. Epi-illumination through a microscope objective enables the photochromic intensification to be carried out under direct visual control, with optimal ... More
Photoaffinity labeling of antibodies for applications in homogeneous fluoroimmunoassays.
AuthorsChang IN, Lin JN, Andrade JD, Herron JN
JournalAnal Chem
PubMed ID7762830
A homogeneous noncompetitive immunoassay based on photoaffinity labeling techniques is described. Using this method, a fluorophore (reporter) can be specifically attached to an antibody in the vicinity of its antigen-combining sites. Upon antigen binding, changes in the fluorescence spectrum of the reporter molecule are often observed. Two fluorophores, pyrene and ... More
Extensive dye coupling between rat neocortical neurons during the period of circuit formation.
AuthorsPeinado A, Yuste R, Katz LC
JournalNeuron
PubMed ID8427699
A low molecular weight intracellular tracer, Neurobiotin, was injected into single neurons in living slices of rat neocortex made at postnatal days 5-18. Between days 5 and 12, 66% of single-neuron injections labeled clusters of up to 80 neurons surrounding the injected cell. Coupling between neurons occurred primarily through dendrites. ... More
A hypothalamic projection to the turtle red nucleus: an anterograde and retrograde tracing study.
AuthorsHerrick JL, Keifer J
JournalExp Brain Res
PubMed ID9372305
It is well known that the reptilian red nucleus lacks a descending motor cortical input to the red nucleus, but has a well-developed cerebellar input. The present study was undertaken to determine whether there is a descending rubral input that originates from the hypothalamus. Using an in vitro preparation from ... More
Phenotypic characterization of gastric sensory neurons in mice.
AuthorsBielefeldt K, Zhong F, Koerber HR, Davis BM,
JournalAm J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol
PubMed ID16728726
Recent studies suggest that the capsaicin receptor [transient receptor potential vanilloid (TRPV)1] may play a role in visceral mechanosensation. To address the potential role of TRPV1 in vagal sensory neurons, we developed a new in vitro technique allowing us to determine TRPV1 expression directly in physiologically characterized gastric sensory neurons. ... More
Biotinylation reagents for the study of cell surface proteins.
AuthorsElia G,
JournalProteomics
PubMed ID18763706
The extraordinarily stable, non-covalent interaction between avidin and biotin is one of the most commonly exploited tools in chemistry and biology. Methods for derivatization with biotin of a variety of molecules (in particular, proteins) have been introduced, in order to allow their efficient recovery, immobilization and detection with avidin-based reagents. ... More
Advantages and limitations of commonly used methods to assay the molecular permeability of gap junctional intercellular communication.
AuthorsAbbaci M, Barberi-Heyob M, Blondel W, Guillemin F, Didelon J,
JournalBiotechniques
PubMed ID18611167
The role of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in regulation of normal growth and differentiation is becoming increasingly recognized as a major cellular function. GJIC consists of intercellular exchange of low molecular weight molecules, and is the only means for direct contact between cytoplasms of adjacent animal cells. Disturbances of ... More
Wounding alters epidermal connexin expression and gap junction-mediated intercellular communication.
AuthorsGoliger JA, Paul DL
JournalMol Biol Cell
PubMed ID8589451
We show that connexin expression and in vivo patterns of communication were dramatically altered in response to epidermal wounding. Six hours after injury, Cx26 was up-regulated in the differentiated cells proximal to the wound, but was down-regulated in cells located at the wound edge. In contrast, Cx31.1 and Cx43 were ... More
Avidin binding of radiolabeled biotin derivatives.
AuthorsGarlick RK, Giese RW
JournalJ Biol Chem
PubMed ID3275639
Three N-acyl derivatives of biotinylethylenediamine were prepared: I, biotinylamidoethyl-3-(3-[125I]iodo-4-hydroxyphenyl)propionamide; II, biotinylamidoethyl-[3H]acetamide; and III, biotinylamidoethyl-3-(3,5-[125I]diiodo-4-hydroxyphenyl)propionamid e. Each compound was combined with a large excess of avidin, yielding 1:1 molar complexes. Aside from a small fraction of each complex that dissociated more rapidly, the dissociation half-lives of these complexes were: I, 41 ... More
Oscillations and sparsening of odor representations in the mushroom body.
AuthorsPerez-Orive J, Mazor O, Turner GC, Cassenaer S, Wilson RI, Laurent G
JournalScience
PubMed ID12130775
In the insect olfactory system, oscillatory synchronization is functionally relevant and reflects the coherent activation of dynamic neural assemblies. We examined the role of such oscillatory synchronization in information transfer between networks in this system. The antennal lobe is the obligatory relay for olfactory afferent signals and generates oscillatory output. ... More
Early functional neural networks in the developing retina.
AuthorsWong RO, Chernjavsky A, Smith SJ, Shatz CJ
JournalNature
PubMed ID7715725
In the adult mammalian retina, the principal direction of information flow is along a vertical pathway from photoreceptors to retinal interneurons to ganglion cells, the output neurons of the retina. We report here, however, that initially in development, at a time when the photoreceptors are not yet even present, there ... More
Neuronal dye coupling in the developing rat fascia dentata.
AuthorsHaring JH, Yan W, Faber KM
JournalBrain Res Dev Brain Res
PubMed ID9427485
The present study describes dye coupling among neurons of the developing rat fascia dentata following impalement and intracellular filling with Neurobiotin. The number of neuronal impalements resulting in dye-coupled cells decreases from P14 to P120. The most rapid decline in dye coupling was observed between P14 and P21, the beginning ... More
Recent techniques for tracing pathways in the central nervous system of developing and adult mammals.
AuthorsVercelli A, Repici M, Garbossa D, Grimaldi A
JournalBrain Res Bull
PubMed ID10654576
Over the last 20 years, the choice of neural tracers has increased manyfold, and includes newly introduced anterograde tracers that allow quantitation of single-axon morphologies, and retrograde tracers that can be combined with intracellular fills for the study of dendritic arbors of neurons which have a specific projection pattern. The ... More
A rapid method for combined laser scanning confocal microscopic and electron microscopic visualization of biocytin or neurobiotin-labeled neurons.
AuthorsSun XJ, Tolbert LP, Hildebrand JG, Meinertzhagen IA
JournalJ Histochem Cytochem
PubMed ID9446834
Intracellular recording and dye filling are widely used to correlate the morphology of a neuron with its physiology. With laser scanning confocal microscopy, the complex shapes of labeled neurons in three dimensions can be reconstructed rapidly, but this requires fluorescent dyes. These dyes are neither permanent nor electron dense and ... More
A map of angular tuning preference in thalamic barreloids.
AuthorsTimofeeva E, Mérette C, Emond C, Lavallée P, Deschênes M
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID14627657
A double-labeling protocol was used to determine how cells with different angular preferences to whisker motion distribute across the dimensions of a barreloid in the ventral posterior medial nucleus of the rat thalamus. Individual barreloids were labeled retrogradely by injecting Fluoro-Gold in identified barrel columns, and single relay cells (n ... More
Contacts and cooperation between cells depend on the hormone ouabain.
AuthorsLarre I, Ponce A, Fiorentino R, Shoshani L, Contreras RG, Cereijido M
JournalProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
PubMed ID16835298
Cell adhesion is a crucial step in proliferation, differentiation, migration, apoptosis, and metastasis. In previous works we have shown that cell adhesion is modulated by ouabain, a highly specific inhibitor of Na+,K+-ATPase, recently found to be a hormone. In the present work we pursue the investigation of the effect of ... More
The functional anatomy and evolution of hypoglossal afferents in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens.
AuthorsAnderson CW, Nishikawa KC
JournalBrain Res
PubMed ID9401749
Previously, we suggested that afferents are present in the hypoglossal nerve of the leopard frog, Rana pipiens. The basis for this was behavioral data obtained after transection of the hypoglossal nerve. These afferents coordinate the timing of tongue protraction with mouth opening during feeding. The goal of the present study ... More
Synaptic inputs to morphologically identified myenteric neurons in guinea pig rectum from pelvic nerves.
AuthorsTamura K
JournalAm J Physiol
PubMed ID9252508
Neurobiotin-filled microelectrodes were used to investigate electrical and synaptic behavior and morphological characteristics of rectal myenteric neurons that received synaptic inputs from the pelvic nerves. Stimulation of the pelvic nerve at low frequencies (< 3.3 Hz) evoked nicotinic fast excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fast EPSPs) in 45.3% of rectal neurons. Pelvic ... More
Switch in gap junction protein expression is associated with selective changes in junctional permeability during keratinocyte differentiation.
AuthorsBrissette JL, Kumar NM, Gilula NB, Hall JE, Dotto GP
JournalProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
PubMed ID8022804
Gap junctional communication provides a mechanism for regulating multicellular activities by allowing the exchange of small diffusible molecules between neighboring cells. The diversity of gap junction proteins may exist to form channels that have different permeability properties. We report here that induction of terminal differentiation in mouse primary keratinocytes by ... More
A method to biotinylate and histochemically visualize ibotenic acid for pharmacological inactivation studies.
AuthorsMetzner W, Juranek J
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID9350965
Ibotenic acid (IA) and kainic acid (KA) are commonly used tools to selectively inactivate neuronal perikarya, eventually leading to their degeneration, without affecting fibers of passage. Reversible inactivations and experimental paradigms that do not allow for long survival times, however, do not permit for histological verification of the site and ... More
Guinea pig pancreatic neurons: morphology, neurochemistry, electrical properties, and response to 5-HT.
AuthorsLiu MT, Kirchgessner AL
JournalAm J Physiol
PubMed ID9435552
The morphology, neurochemistry, and electrical properties of guinea pig pancreatic neurons were determined. The majority of neurons expressed choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunoreactivity; however, ChAT-negative neurons were also found. Both cholinergic and noncholinergic neurons expressed nitric oxide synthase (NOS) immunoreactivity. Three types of pancreatic neurons were distinguished. Phasic neurons fired action ... More
Characterization of neurokinin-1 receptors in the submucosal plexus of guinea pig ileum.
AuthorsMoore BA, Vanner S, Bunnett NW, Sharkey KA
JournalAm J Physiol
PubMed ID9316471
This study combined immunohistochemical double-labeling techniques with functional studies to characterize the neurokinin-1 (NK1) receptors mediating neuronal and vasodilator responses in submucosal guinea pig ileum. NK1 receptor distribution in whole mount preparations of the submucosa was examined using a rabbit polyclonal antibody directed against the COOH terminus of the rat ... More
Octopaminergic innervation and modulation of a locust flight steering muscle
AuthorsStevenson P, Meuser S
JournalJ Exp Biol
PubMed ID9318358
We demonstrate that the meso- and metathoracic pleuroaxillary flight steering muscle (M85 mesothorax, M114 metathorax) of the migratory locust are each innervated by a single dorsal unpaired median neurone (DUM3,4,5a). The soma of this neurone can be localized by retrograde staining of the motor nerve with Neurobiotin, but not with ... More
The morphology and distribution of horizontal cells in the retina of a New World monkey, the marmoset Callithrix jacchus: a comparison with macaque monkey.
AuthorsChan TL, Goodchild AK, Martin PR
JournalVis Neurosci
PubMed ID9057275
The morphology and distribution of horizontal cells was studied in the retina of a New World monkey, the marmoset, Callithrix jacchus, and compared with that of the Old World macaque monkey. Horizontal cells in macaque and marmoset were either labelled with the carbocyanine dye, DiI, and then photoconverted, or were ... More
Afferent and efferent connections of the diencephalic prepacemaker nucleus in the weakly electric fish, Eigenmannia virescens: interactions between the electromotor system and the neuroendocrine axis.
AuthorsWong CJ
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9184983
The afferent and efferent connections of the gymnotiform central posterior nucleus of the dorsal thalamus and prepacemaker nucleus (CP/PPn) were examined by retrograde and anterograde transport of the small molecular weight tracer, Neurobiotin. The CP/PPn was identified by physiological assay and received a local iontophoretic injection of Neurobiotin. Retrogradely labeled ... More
Intracellular recording from dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra: double labelling for identification of projection site and morphological features.
AuthorsLee TH, Ellinwood EH, Einstein G
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID1405739
We have adapted an intracellular recording technique that allows differentiation of dopamine neurons in vitro based on their projection sites and morphology. We pre-labelled 'nigrostriatal' dopamine neurons in vivo by stereotaxically injecting rhodamine-labelled microspheres (RFM) into the dorsal striatum. Following slice preparation, dense neuronal labelling with RFM was observed in ... More
Inspiratory augmenting bulbospinal neurons express both glutamatergic and enkephalinergic phenotypes.
AuthorsStornetta RL, Sevigny CP, Guyenet PG
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID12455000
Many of the inspiratory augmenting (I-AUG) neurons of the rostral ventral respiratory group (rVRG) are premotor neurons that excite phrenic motor neurons during inspiration, probably by releasing glutamate. In the present study, we demonstrate that these neurons are indeed glutamatergic, in that their cell bodies contain vesicular glutamate transporter-2 (VGLUT2) ... More
Trafficking, assembly, and function of a connexin43-green fluorescent protein chimera in live mammalian cells.
AuthorsJordan K, Solan JL, Dominguez M, Sia M, Hand A, Lampe PD, Laird DW
JournalMol Biol Cell
PubMed ID10359613
To examine the trafficking, assembly, and turnover of connexin43 (Cx43) in living cells, we used an enhanced red-shifted mutant of green fluorescent protein (GFP) to construct a Cx43-GFP chimera. When cDNA encoding Cx43-GFP was transfected into communication-competent normal rat kidney cells, Cx43-negative Madin-Darby canine kidney (MDCK) cells, or communication-deficient Neuro2A ... More
Altered dye diffusion and upregulation of connexin37 in mouse aortic endothelium deficient in connexin40.
AuthorsKrüger O, Bény JL, Chabaud F, Traub O, Theis M, Brix K, Kirchhoff S, Willecke K
JournalJ Vasc Res
PubMed ID12011587
Connexin40 (Cx40), connexin37 (Cx37) and connexin43 (Cx43) are subunit proteins of gap junction channels in the vascular wall which are presumably involved in the propagation of vasomotor signals. In this study we have investigated in Cx40-deficient versus wild-type aortic endothelium to which extent loss of Cx40 impairs intercellular communication. We ... More
Serotonin immunoreactivity is contained in one physiological cell class in the rat rostral ventromedial medulla.
AuthorsPotrebic SB, Fields HL, Mason P
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID7510333
Neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) are the major source of serotonergic projections to the dorsal horn. A large body of evidence implicates RVM serotonergic neurons in the modulation of spinal nociceptive transmission. Three physiological classes of RVM neurons, on, off, and neutral cells, are postulated to have different ... More
The morphology of globus pallidus projection neurons in the rat: an intracellular staining study.
AuthorsKita H, Kitai ST
JournalBrain Res
PubMed ID8012814
The morphology of 23 intracellularly stained projection neurons of rat globus pallidus (GP) was studied in light microscopic preparations. The somatic size of these projection neurons was highly variable. The somatic area ranged from 78 to 353 microns 2. The 23 neurons were divided into aspiny and spiny types, based ... More
Timecourse of development of the wallaby trigeminal pathway: III. Thalamocortical and corticothalamic projections.
AuthorsMarotte LR, Leamey CA, Waite PM
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9336223
The development of trigeminal projections between the thalamus and cortex has been investigated in the marsupial mammal, the wallaby, by using a carbocyanine dye, horseradish peroxidase conjugated to wheat germ agglutinin (WGA-HRP), Neurobiotin, and biocytin as pathway tracers. The appearance of whisker-related patterns in the cortex in relation to their ... More
Retrograde synaptic communication via gap junctions coupling auditory afferents to the Mauthner cell.
AuthorsPereda AE, Bell TD, Faber DS
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID7666179
Large myelinated club endings of the goldfish eighth nerve arise in the sacculus and establish mixed electrotonic and chemical synapses with the distal part of the Mauthner (M-) cell's lateral dendrite. We show here, using paired pre- and postsynaptic recordings, that depolarizing currents generated postsynaptically (specifically, the mixed synaptic potential ... More
Specific permeability and selective formation of gap junction channels in connexin-transfected HeLa cells.
AuthorsElfgang C, Eckert R, Lichtenberg-Fraté H, Butterweck A, Traub O, Klein RA, Hülser DF, Willecke K
JournalJ Cell Biol
PubMed ID7537274
DNAs coding for seven murine connexins (Cx) (Cx26, Cx31, Cx32, Cx37, Cx40, Cx43, and Cx45) are functionally expressed in human HeLa cells that were deficient in gap junctional communication. We compare the permeabilities of gap junctions comprised of different connexins to iontophoretically injected tracer molecules. Our results show that Lucifer ... More
Properties and regulation of gap junctional hemichannels in the plasma membranes of cultured cells.
AuthorsLi H, Liu TF, Lazrak A, Peracchia C, Goldberg GS, Lampe PD, Johnson RG
JournalJ Cell Biol
PubMed ID8769424
During the assembly of gap junctions, a hemichannel in the plasma membrane of one cell is thought to align and dock with another in an apposed membrane to form a cell-to-cell channel. We report here on the existence and properties of nonjunctional, plasma membrane connexin43 (Cx43) hemichannels. The opening of ... More
Electrophysiological and immunocytochemical characterization of GABA and dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra of the rat.
AuthorsRichards CD, Shiroyama T, Kitai ST
JournalNeuroscience
PubMed ID9284356
Neurons in the substantia nigra pars reticulata and pars compacta of the rat were studied using a combination of intracellular electrophysiological recording in in vitro and subsequent immunocytochemical double and triple labelling techniques. The neurons recorded in the pars reticulata were identified as either GABA or dopamine neurons: neurons were ... More
Intra-axonal Neurobiotin injection rapidly stains the long-range projections of identified trigeminal primary afferents in vivo: comparisons with HRP and PHA-L.
AuthorsJacquin MF, Hu JW, Sessle BJ, Renehan WE, Waite PM
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID1283434
Currently available methods for studying the morphology of physiologically characterized primary afferents are limited by difficulties inherent in impaling thin fibers and by the limited distances over which conventional tracers move during the course of a recording session. We have encountered an alternative method that overcomes these limitations. Neurobiotin (NB; ... More
Topography of spiral ganglion projections to cochlear nucleus during postnatal development in cats.
AuthorsSnyder RL, Leake PA
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9215724
A fundamenntal organizational principle of the central auditory system is that virtually all areas are tonotopically organized. However, we know very little about the timing or mechanisms that are responsible for the development of this organization. When cats are born, their auditory nervous systems are extremely immature, and their hearing ... More
Double-label confocal laser-scanning microscopy, image restoration, and real-time three-dimensional reconstruction to study axons in the central nervous system and their contacts with target neurons.
AuthorsWouterlood FG, van Haeften T, Blijleven N, Pérez-Templado P, Pérez-Templado H
JournalAppl Immunohistochem Mol Morphol
PubMed ID11893043
The current double tracing-double confocal laser-scanning method was developed to reconstruct identified nerve fibers and their contacts with identified target neurons in the rat brain in three dimensions. It intends to fill the gap between conventional light microscopic and electron microscopic neuroanatomic tracing. The steps involved are as follows: (1) ... More
Central trigeminal and posterior eighth nerve projections in the turtle Chrysemys picta studied in vitro.
AuthorsHerrick JL, Keifer J
JournalBrain Behav Evol
PubMed ID9553692
Recent electrophysiological studies in the turtle Chrysemys picta have suggested that a neural correlate of the eye-blink reflex can be evoked in an in vitro brain-stem-cerebellum preparation by electrical rather than natural stimulation of the cranial nerves. Discharge recorded in the abducens nerve, which is similar to EMG recordings from ... More
Excitatory actions of norepinephrine on multiple classes of hippocampal CA1 interneurons.
AuthorsBergles DE, Doze VA, Madison DV, Smith SJ
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID8551341
Norepinephrine (NE) causes an increase in the frequency of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials in CA1 pyramidal neurons in vitro. The possibility that this increase in tonic inhibition is caused by an excitatory effect on inhibitory interneurons was investigated through whole-cell recordings from pyramidal cells and both whole-cell and cell-attached patch recordings ... More
Properties of individual embryonic primary afferents and their spinal projections in the rat.
AuthorsMirnics K, Koerber HR
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID9310445
Embryonic (E19-E20) and early postnatal (P2) spinal cords with intact saphenous and sciatic nerves were isolated and placed in aerated artificial cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). Intracellular recordings were made from cells in the L2-L6 dorsal root ganglia using microelectrodes filled with 3 M potassium acetate or 5% neurobiotin (NB) in ... More
Intrinsic response properties of bursting neurons in the nucleus principalis trigemini of the gerbil.
AuthorsSandler VM, Puil E, Schwarz DW
JournalNeuroscience
PubMed ID9483572
In trigeminal neurons, the spike rate, modulated by input parameters, may serve as a code for sensory information. We investigated intrinsic response properties that affect rate coding in neurons of nucleus principalis trigemini (young gerbils). Using the whole-cell recording technique and neurobiotin staining in slices, we found bursting behaviour in ... More
Primary- and secondary-like jaw-muscle spindle afferents have characteristic topographic distributions.
AuthorsDessem D, Donga R, Luo P
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID9212247
Single jaw-muscle spindle afferent axons were characterized physiologically and intracellularly stained to determine whether particular physiological types of spindle afferent show distinctive morphologies. Microelectrodes filled with either horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or biotinamide (Neurobiotin) were advanced into the mesencephalic trigeminal nucleus (Vme) in anesthetized rats. Intracellular recordings then were characterized by ... More
Dopamine inhibition: enhancement of GABA activity and potassium channel activation in hypothalamic and arcuate nucleus neurons.
AuthorsBelousov AB, van den Pol AN
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID9307104
Dopamine (DA) decreases activity in many hypothalamic neurons. To determine the mechanisms of DA's inhibitory effect, whole cell voltage- and current-clamp recordings were made from primary cultures of rat hypothalamic and arcuate nucleus neurons (n = 186; 15-39 days in vitro). In normal buffer, DA (usually 10 microM; n = ... More
Presubicular and parasubicular cortical neurons of the rat: functional separation of deep and superficial neurons in vitro.
AuthorsFunahashi M, Stewart M
JournalJ Physiol
PubMed ID9192310
1. The presubiculum and parasubiculum are retrohippocampal structures bordered by the subiculum and medial entorhinal cortex. Deep layer (IV-VI) neurons from this region exhibit stable synaptically triggered burst behaviour which distinguishes them from superficial layer (I-III) cells. This functional separation was examined with intracellular and field potential recordings from horizontal ... More
Localization of gap junctions and tracer coupling in retinal Müller cells.
AuthorsBall AK, McReynolds JS
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9520100
Physiological studies have demonstrated the existence of direct intercellular communication, presumably mediated by gap junctions, both between neurons and between glial cells in the vertebrate retina. We localized gap junctions in the retinas of rat, goldfish, and mudpuppy by using antisera directed against proteins that make up the connexon channels ... More
Neurobiotin, a useful neuroanatomical tracer for in vivo anterograde, retrograde and transneuronal tract-tracing and for in vitro labeling of neurons.
AuthorsHuang Q, Zhou D, DiFiglia M
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID1578900
The biotin derivative, N-(2-aminoethyl) biotinamide hydrochloride, or Neurobiotin, has been shown recently to be a useful marker for intracellular and anterograde tracing. The properties of Neurobiotin as a tracer were further examined in this study by making pressure injections into different regions of the cerebral cortex or the rostral neostriatum ... More
In vivo electrophysiological distinction of histochemically-identified cholinergic neurons using extracellular recording and labelling in rat laterodorsal tegmental nucleus.
AuthorsKoyama Y, Honda T, Kusakabe M, Kayama Y, Sugiura Y
JournalNeuroscience
PubMed ID9502249
From indirect evidence we have proposed that cholinergic versus non-cholinergic neurons in the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus can be distinguished with the duration of their extracellularly recorded action potentials, "broad" spikes for the former, "brief" for the latter. To test this assumption more directly, we labelled single neurons recorded extracellularly in ... More
Morphology of basal optic tract terminals in the turtle, Pseudemys scripta elegans.
AuthorsMartin J, Kogo N, Ariel M
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9548549
The morphologies of axon terminals of retinal ganglion cells projecting to the basal optic nucleus (BON) via the basal optic tract (BOT) were studied in the red-eared turtle. The BOT was visualized on the ventral surface of the brainstem in vitro, and either biotinylated dextran amine was injected extracellularly or ... More
Dendritic projections and dye-coupling in dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra examined in horizontal brain slices from young rats.
AuthorsLin JY, van Wyk M, Bowala TK, Teo MY, Lipski J
JournalJ Neurophysiol
PubMed ID12815027
We examined the rostro-caudal dendritic spread of striatally projecting dopaminergic neurons of the Substantia Nigra pars compacta (SNc) and investigated the presence of dye-coupling after labeling these cells with a mixture of lucifer yellow (LY) and neurobiotin (NB) or with LY alone. Whole cell recordings were made from horizontal brain ... More
The anterograde and retrograde transport of neurobiotin in the central nervous system of the rat: comparison with biocytin.
AuthorsLapper SR, Bolam JP
JournalJ Neurosci Methods
PubMed ID1724681
In order to test whether neurobiotin, an analogue of biotin, is transported by neurones in the central nervous system, injections of varying volumes of a 5% solution were made into different regions of the rat brain. Following perfusion-fixation, the sites of injection and possible sites of transport were sectioned and ... More
Connexin 26 expression and extensive gap junctional coupling in cultures of GT1-7 cells secreting gonadotropin-releasing hormone.
AuthorsHu L, Olson AJ, Weiner RI, Goldsmith PC
JournalNeuroendocrinology
PubMed ID10529616
Gap junctions (GJs) are transmembrane channels that permit rapid intercellular transit of various small molecules including ions, second messengers and metabolites. GJs promote communication and coordinated activity between coupled neurons, and may help facilitate the synchronous release and pulsatile secretion of neurohormones. A previous study using GnRH-secreting GT1-7 cells reported ... More
Neuron types in the rat lateral superior olive and developmental changes in the complexity of their dendritic arbors.
AuthorsRietzel HJ, Friauf E
JournalJ Comp Neurol
PubMed ID9456173
The lateral superior olive (LSO), a conspicuous mammalian brainstem nucleus that is involved in sound localization, has become a model system for investigating the formation of topographically organized inhibitory and excitatory connections. In experiments employing intracellular injections of Lucifer yellow or neurobiotin into lightly fixed brain slices, we have examined ... More
Changing patterns of gap junctional intercellular communication and connexin distribution in mouse epidermis and hair follicles during embryonic development.
AuthorsChoudhry R, Pitts JD, Hodgins MB
JournalDev Dyn
PubMed ID9415427
In the mouse embryo between embryonic days 12 (E12) and 16, regular arrays of epidermal placodes on the mystacial pad develop into whisker follicles. This system was chosen for analysis of gap junctional intercellular communication during differentiation. The patterns of communication were studied by microinjection of the tracers Lucifer yellow-CH ... More
A confocal laser microscopic study of enkephalin-immunoreactive appositions onto physiologically identified neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla.
AuthorsMason P, Back SA, Fields HL
JournalJ Neurosci
PubMed ID1403098
Neurons in the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) are important in the opioid modulation of dorsal horn nociceptive transmission. Systemically administered morphine inhibits one class of RVM cells, the on-cells; excites a second class of RVM cells, the off-cells; and has no effect on a third class, neutral cells. In contrast, ... More