The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience
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Phosphorylation of IkappaB through IkappaB kinase (IKK) is the first step in nuclear factor kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation and upregulation of NF-kappaB-responsive genes. Hence, inhibition of IKK activity may be expected to prevent injury-, infection-, or stress-induced upregulation of various proinflammatory genes and may thereby reduce hyperalgesia and inflammation. In the present study, we tested this hypothesis using a specific and potent IKK inhibitor (S1627). ⋯ The drug had no effect on acute inflammatory nociception in the formalin test and did not affect responses to heat and tactile stimuli in naive animals. As hypothesized, S1627 prevented the zymosan-induced nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB in the spinal cord and the upregulation of NF-kappaB-responsive genes including cyclooxygenase-2, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, and IL-1beta. Our data indicate that IKK may prove an interesting novel drug target in the treatment of pathological pain and inflammation.
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Learning may alter rapidly the output organization of adult motor cortex. It is a long-held hypothesis that modification of synaptic strength along cortical horizontal connections through long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD) forms one important mechanism for learning-induced cortical plasticity. Strong evidence in favor of this hypothesis was provided for rat primary motor cortex (M1) by showing that motor learning reduced subsequent LTP but increased LTD. ⋯ Repeated fastest possible thumb abduction movements resulted in learning, defined by an increase in maximum peak acceleration of the practiced movements, and prevented subsequent PAS(N20)-induced LTP-like plasticity but enhanced subsequent PAS(N20-5)-induced LTD-like plasticity. The same number of repeated slow thumb abduction movements did not result in learning and had no effects on PAS-induced plasticity. Findings support the view that learning in human M1 occurs through LTP-like mechanisms.
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Studies on the mechanisms that underlie the function of small central presynaptic terminals have been hampered by the inaccessibility of these synapses to soluble reagents. Here, we permeabilized hippocampal synapses in culture, manipulated their interior, and monitored the resulting changes in vesicle mobilization with the styryl dye FM2-10. Using this method, we found that 1 microm Ca2+ after incubation with GTP or GTP-gamma-S could mobilize approximately 90% of the total recycling pool, whereas 1 microm Ca2+ application after dialysis of permeabilized synapses with GDP-beta-S mobilized approximately 30% of the recycling vesicles, presumably corresponding to the readily releasable pool. ⋯ Taken together, in this system replenishment of the readily releasable pool by the reserve vesicles was strictly GTP dependent. In contrast, vesicle replenishment and release did not require ATP or N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor (NSF); however, this process involved formation of new soluble NSF-attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complexes as judged by its sensitivity to tetanus toxin. These results suggest that in hippocampal synapses, vesicle mobilization and replenishment of the readily releasable pool require GTP and Ca2+ but do not necessitate ATP-dependent priming and SNARE recycling.
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Animal and human studies of sleep and learning have demonstrated that training on various tasks increases subsequent rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and phasic pontine-wave (P-wave) activity, followed by improvement in performance on the learned task. It is well documented that REM sleep deprivation after learning trials blocks the expected improvement in performance on subsequent retesting. Our aim was to test whether experimentally induced P-wave generator activation could eliminate the learning impairment produced by post-training REM sleep deprivation. ⋯ In contrast, the rats that received the carbachol microinjection and REM sleep deprivation demonstrated normal learning. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that carbachol-induced activation of the P-wave generator prevents the memory-impairing effects of post-training REM sleep deprivation. This evidence supports our hypothesis that the activation of the P-wave generator during REM sleep deprivation enhances a physiological process of memory, which occurs naturally during post-training REM sleep.
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Spinal cord neurons release glycine and GABA and accumulate glycine receptors (GlyRs) and GABA(A) receptors in the same postsynaptic densities. In contrast, supramedullar neurons prefer GABA as a neurotransmitter and exclude GlyRs from postsynaptic anchoring. The general aim of the present study was to elucidate the mechanisms underlying transmitter-appropriate receptor accumulation at inhibitory synapses. ⋯ Accordingly in SCNs, GFP-tagged C5-gephyrin displayed a preferential postsynaptic accumulation opposite GABAergic synapses. Comparison of glycinergic, mixed, and GABAergic synapses in SCNs showed that the degree of GlyR accumulation was inversely related to the amount of postsynaptic C5-gephyrin. These results identify the C5 splice variant of gephyrin as a factor regulating the transmitter-appropriate degree of GlyR accumulation at inhibitory synapses.