Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

The Functional Organization Of Synaptic Vesicle Pools In A Retinal Bipolar Neuron, Proleta Datta

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Ribbon synapses are found in sensory systems and are characterized by ‘ribbon-like’ organelles that tether synaptic vesicles. The synaptic ribbons co-localize with sites of calcium entry and vesicle fusion, forming ribbon-style active zones. The ability of ribbon synapses to maintain rapid and sustained neurotransmission is critical for vision, hearing and balance. At retinal ribbon synapses, three vesicle pools have been proposed. A rapid pool of vesicles that are docked at the plasma membrane, and whose fusion is limited only by calcium entry, a releasable pool of ATP-primed vesicles whose size also correlates with the number of ribbon-tethered vesicles, and a …

Role Of Trp Channels In Mediating The Calcium Signaling Response Of Brain Endothelial Cells To Mechanical Stretch, Jonathan Berrout

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often results in disruption of the blood brain barrier (BBB), which is an integral component to maintaining the central nervous system homeostasis. Recently cytosolic calcium levels ([Ca²⁺]i), observed to elevate following TBI, have been shown to influence endothelial barrier integrity. However, the mechanism by which TBI-induced calcium signaling alters the endothelial barrier remains unknown. In the present study, an in vitro BBB model was utilized to address this issue. Exposure of cells to biaxial mechanical stretch, in the range expected for TBI, resulted in a rapid cytosolic calcium increase. Modulation of intracellular and extracellular …

Population Coding In Laminar Cortical Circuits, Bryan J. Hansen

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

One of the fundamental questions in neuroscience is to understand how encoding of sensory inputs is distributed across neuronal networks in cerebral cortex to influence sensory processing and behavioral performance. The fact that the structure of neuronal networks is organized according to cortical layers raises the possibility that sensory information could be processed differently in distinct layers. The goal of my thesis research is to understand how laminar circuits encode information in their population activity, how the properties of the population code adapt to changes in visual input, and how population coding influences behavioral performance. To this end, we performed …

Novel Use Of Dual Anti-Inflammatory Therapy To Overcome Drug Resistance And Improve Functional Recovery Following Spinal Cord Injury, Jennifer Dulin

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

Over 1.2 million Americans are currently living with a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Despite the need for effective therapies, there are currently no proven effective treatments that can improve recovery of function in SCI patients. Many therapeutic compounds have shown promise in preclinical models of SCI, but all of these have fallen short in clinical trials.

P-glycoprotein (Pgp) is an active transporter expressed on capillary endothelial cell membranes at the blood-spinal cord barrier (BSCB). Pgp limits passive diffusion of blood-borne drugs into the CNS, by actively extruding drugs from the endothelial cell membrane. Pgp can become pathologically up-regulated, thus …