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Endocannabinoid-Mediated Synaptic Plasticity In The Ventral Tegmental Area And Hippocampus, Lindsey Nicole Friend
Endocannabinoid-Mediated Synaptic Plasticity In The Ventral Tegmental Area And Hippocampus, Lindsey Nicole Friend
Theses and Dissertations
Synaptic plasticity is the process whereby connections between neurons can be altered in an experience dependent manner. For example, drugs of abuse alter plasticity in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the midbrain. A large amount of research has been applied to uncovering the mechanism whereby synapses on the reward signaling dopamine cells is altered, however, less is known regarding the VTA inhibitory GABA neurons. Our objective was to examine the ability of GABA neurons to exhibit plasticity, and determine how drugs of abuse could influence it. Here we report a novel type of plasticity of excitatory neurotransmission onto VTA …
Endocannabinoid Biosynthetic Enzyme Mrna: Patterns Of Expression In Hippocampus And Ventral Tegmental Area And Effects On Synaptic Plasticity, Collin Brutch Merrill
Endocannabinoid Biosynthetic Enzyme Mrna: Patterns Of Expression In Hippocampus And Ventral Tegmental Area And Effects On Synaptic Plasticity, Collin Brutch Merrill
Theses and Dissertations
Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are lipophilic signals that are produced by postsynaptic neurons in an activity-dependent manner, and signal in a retrograde fashion to modulate neurotransmitter release. As such, eCBs are highly involved in synaptic plasticity, a process that strengthens or weakens synapses. eCB-mediated synaptic plasticity is involved in many brain processes including learning, short-term memory, and adaptive reward, which are processed in the hippocampus and ventral tegmental area (VTA), respectively. However, the expression of eCB biosynthetic enzyme mRNA within hippocampal and VTA neurons, as well as the relationship between these mRNA species and the occurrence of synaptic plasticity, remains unclear. The …
Calcineurin Is Required For Trpv1-Induced Ltd Of Ca1 Stratum Radiatum Interneurons, Tyron Deray Jensen
Calcineurin Is Required For Trpv1-Induced Ltd Of Ca1 Stratum Radiatum Interneurons, Tyron Deray Jensen
Theses and Dissertations
Learning and memory in the brain are thought to be dependent on synaptic plasticity. In response to sensory input, synapses can be strengthened or weakened, known as long-term potentiation or long-term depression (LTD), respectively. Transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) has been shown to mediate a novel form of presynaptic LTD in hippocampal interneurons. TRPV1 is currently being heavily studied in the PNS and being targeted by pharmaceuticals for its anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory properties. However, much less is known regarding TRPV1 function in the CNS, including the signal mechanism mediating hippocampal LTD despite its obvious importance. Here we performed whole-cell …