神经生物学

Synaptic plasticity defines the process by which synapses, the connections between neurons, can be modified in response to activity. Plasticity can be either positive or negative, with strengthening and weakening of synapses occurring with distinct patterns of activity (neuronal ...

Understanding the role of specific genes in diverse brain functions is a major challenge in neuroscience. To address this issue, we have optimized an in vivo transgene expression system based on the sindbis virus. In this chapter, we provide a detailed description of the cloning, production, and ...

The use of expression constructs to drive exogenous expression of proteins has long been a pillar of cell and molecular biology. In this chapter, we will focus on two particular uses for this technique in studying synaptic plasticity, using Aplysia californica as a model: first, the use of overexp ...

Conditional mutagenesis in mice is a key approach in Neuroscience that makes it possible to investigate the functions of defined genes within certain neural subpopulations. The approach is based on the combination of transgenic expression of a recombinase with targeted candidate ge ...

The central nervous system (CNS) is characterized by an immense structural complexity with intimate associations of its constituent cell types: neurons and different types of glial cells, mainly oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. A century ago (1893) described what are now called pro ...

There are several preparations that can be utilized to study the development of the vertebrate nervous system and the physiology and pharmacology of individual vertebrate neurons. These include both in vivo and in vitro preparations. The latter include brain slices (both conventional ...

Within the past decade, organ cultures have reemerged as an important complement to in vivo studies for examining regulatory mechanisms in various neuronal systems. The principle behind organ cultures is to maintain a tissue explant in a state as close as possible to that found in vivo, i.e., to pres ...

Normal brain functions are to the highest degree dependent on the cytoarchitecture and the intercellular relationships that govern both the nervous system metabolism (for instance, the integrity of the blood-brain barrier) and specific functions (synaptic transmission, glio ...

Stereotyped patterns of axonal growth and axon-axon bundling leading to tract formation are common features of nervous system development in organisms as diverse as grasshoppers and humans. In grasshoppers, axons growing from individual, identified neurons follow stereotyped ...

Individual cellular behaviors are controlled by extrinsic signals within the environmental milieu. These signals maybe ions, nutrients, hormones, or, pertinent to this review, a collection of proteins generally termed “growth factors.” Growth factors, which may have autocrine, p ...

The technique of culturing cells derived from the nervous system has been in use for over 80 years, with the objective of simplifying the experimental system to provide readily manipulatable models of neural function. These preparations are useful for testing hypotheses relevant to cell a ...

Tissue culture provides an opportunity to study the functions of the nervous system under strictly controlled conditions. As amply documented in other chapters in this volume, the culture medium, the surface upon which the cultures are growing, and various cellular and soluble factors can ...

Until recently, the cell culture technique was employed as the sole biological system within a laboratory, and major efforts were concentrated on the setting up and running of such a cell culture laboratory. However, recent developments in several areas, use on monoclonal antibodies and ce ...

The microvasculature of the brain is important in the normal development and maintenance of the blood-brain barrier. Since glial cells are in close contact with brain capillaries in situ, communication between glial cells and capillary endothelial cells is thought to be important in mai ...

Oligodendrocytes were first described by Robertson in 1899 as small cells with a few processes of variable length. In 1921, del Rio Hortega published a detailed histological description of these cells and coined the descriptive word “oligodendrocyte.” The localization of these cells al ...

In 1964, in the Johns Hopkins clinics, Michael Lesch and William Nyhan saw two brothers with cerebral palsy, movement disorder, and an extremely high plasma uric acid (VA) level. Most striking in these patients was compulsive self-mutilatory behavior (SMB) involving intense biting of the dig ...

An optical measurement of membrane potential using a molecular probe might be beneficial in a variety of circumstances. “Such a probe could, we believe, provide a powerful new technique for measuring membrane potential in systems where, for reasons of scale, topology, or complexity, the use of ...

As other chapters in this book demonstrate, intra- and extracellular recording provide considerable information about the electrical behavior of cells. However, as Hodgkin and Huxley (1952) taught us long ago, analysis of the mechanisms that generate electrical activity is far easier ...

In this chapter, we will give an overview of the methods for making electrical recordings from single ion channels in cell membranes and in planar lipid bilayers, endeavoring to point out the advantages and limitations of each approach. Since extensive treatments of various aspects of the tec ...

The technique of intracellular recording is useful in studies seeking information about the functioning of individual neurons, their place in neuronal circuitry, and their membrane properties. For some of the just named applications, intracellular recording is the only method for o ...