Development of a model for nerve agent inhalation in conscious rats.

This study characterizes the development of a head-out inhalation exposure system for assessing respiratory toxicity of vaporized chemical agents in untreated, non-anesthetized rats. The organophosphate diisopropyl fluorophosphate (DFP) induces classical cholinergic toxicity following inhalation exposure and was utilized to validate the effectiveness of this newly designed inhalation exposure system. A saturator cell apparatus was used to generate DFP vapor at 9750, 10,950, 12,200, 14,625 and 19,500 mg × min/m³ which was carried by filtered nitrogen into a glass mixing tube, where it combined with ambient air before being introduced to the custom-made glass exposure chamber. Male Sprague-Dawley rats (250-300 g) were restrained in individual head-out plethysmography chambers, which acquired respiratory parameters before, during and after agent exposure. All animals were acclimated to the exposure system prior to exposure to reduce novel environment-induced stress. The LCt50, as determined by probit analysis, was 12,014 mg × min/m³. Weight loss in exposed animals was dose-dependent and ranged from 8 to 28% of their body weight 24 h after exposure. Increased salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation (SLUD) and mild muscular fasciculation were observed in all DFP-exposed animals during and immediately following exposure. In all exposed animals, DFP vapor produced significant inhibition of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity in cardiac blood, bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), whole brain and lung tissue as well as alterations in tidal volume and minute volume. These studies have provided valuable information leading to the initiation of studies evaluating inhalational toxicity and treatments following exposure to the more lethal and potent chemical warfare nerve agents.

A Postsynaptic Role for Short-Term Neuronal Facilitation in Dendritic Spines.

Synaptic plasticity is a fundamental component of information processing in the brain. Presynaptic facilitation in response to repetitive stimuli, often referred to as paired-pulse facilitation (PPF), is a dominant form of short-term synaptic plasticity. Recently, an additional cellular mechanism for short-term facilitation, short-term postsynaptic plasticity (STPP), has been proposed. While a dendritic mechanism was described in hippocampus, its expression has not yet been demonstrated at the levels of the spine. Furthermore, it is unknown whether the mechanism can be expressed in other brain regions, such as sensory cortex. Here, we demonstrated that a postsynaptic response can be facilitated by prior spine excitation in both hippocampal and cortical neurons, using 3D digital holography and two-photon calcium imaging. The coordinated action of pre- and post-synaptic plasticity may provide a more thorough account of information processing in the brain.

Dendritic hold and read: a gated mechanism for short term information storage and retrieval.

Two contrasting theories have been proposed to explain the mechanistic basis of short term memory. One theory posits that short term memory is represented by persistent neural activity supported by reverberating feedback networks. An alternate, more recent theory posits that short term memory can be supported by feedforward networks. While feedback driven memory can be implemented by well described mechanisms of synaptic plasticity, little is known of possible molecular and cellular mechanisms that can implement feedforward driven memory. Here we report such a mechanism in which the memory trace exists in the form of glutamate-bound but Mg(2+)-blocked NMDA receptors on the thin terminal dendrites of CA1 pyramidal neurons. Because glutamate dissociates from subsets of NMDA receptors very slowly, excitatory synaptic transmission can leave a silent residual trace that outlasts the electrical activity by hundreds of milliseconds. Read-out of the memory trace is possible if a critical level of these bound-but-blocked receptors accumulates on a dendritic branch that will allow these quasi-stable receptors to sustain a regenerative depolarization when triggered by an independent gating signal. This process is referred to here as dendritic hold and read (DHR). Because the read-out of the input is not dependent on repetition of the input and information flows in a single-pass manner, DHR can potentially support a feedforward memory architecture.

Unconventional ligands and modulators of nicotinic receptors.

Evidence gathered from epidemiologic and behavioral studies have indicated that neuronal nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) are intimately involved in the pathogenesis of a number of neurologic disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and schizophrenia. In the mammalian brain, neuronal nAChRs, in addition to mediating fast synaptic transmission, modulate fast synaptic transmission mediated by the major excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters glutamate and GABA, respectively. Of major interest, however, is the fact that the activity of the different subtypes of neuronal nAChR is also subject to modulation by substances of endogenous origin such as choline, the tryptophan metabolite kynurenic acid, neurosteroids, and beta-amyloid peptides and by exogenous substances, including the so-called nicotinic allosteric potentiating ligands, of which galantamine is the prototype, and psychotomimetic drugs such as phencyclidine and ketamine. The present article reviews and discusses the effects of unconventional ligands on nAChR activity and briefly describes the potential benefits of using some of these compounds in the treatment of neuropathologic conditions in which nAChR function/expression is known to be altered.

The nicotinic allosteric potentiating ligand galantamine facilitates synaptic transmission in the mammalian central nervous system.

In this study, the patch-clamp technique was used to determine the effects of galantamine, a cholinesterase inhibitor and a nicotinic allosteric potentiating ligand (APL) used for treatment of Alzheimer's disease, on synaptic transmission in brain slices. In rat hippocampal and human cerebral cortical slices, 1 microM galantamine, acting as a nicotinic APL, increased gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) release triggered by 10 microM acetylcholine (ACh). Likewise, 1 microM galantamine, acting as an APL on presynaptically located nicotinic receptors (nAChRs) that are tonically active, potentiated glutamatergic or GABA-ergic transmission between Schaffer collaterals and CA1 neurons in rat hippocampal slices. The cholinesterase inhibitors rivastigmine, donepezil, and metrifonate, which are devoid of nicotinic APL action, did not affect synaptic transmission. Exogenous application of ACh indicated that high and low levels of nAChR activation in the Schaffer collaterals inhibit and facilitate, respectively, glutamate release onto CA1 neurons. The finding then that the nAChR antagonists methyllycaconitine and dihydro-beta-erythroidine facilitated glutamatergic transmission between Schaffer collaterals and CA1 neurons indicated that in a single hippocampal slice, the inhibitory action of strongly, tonically activated nAChRs in some glutamatergic fibers prevails over the facilitatory action of weakly, tonically activated nAChRs in other glutamatergic fibers synapsing onto a given neuron. Galantamine is known to sensitize nAChRs to activation by low, but not high agonist concentrations. Therefore, at 1 microM, galantamine is likely to increase facilitation of synaptic transmission by weakly, tonically activated nAChRs just enough to override inhibition by strongly, tonically activated nAChRs. In conclusion, the nicotinic APL action can be an important determinant of the therapeutic effectiveness of galantamine.

Low concentrations of pyridostigmine prevent soman-induced inhibition of GABAergic transmission in the central nervous system: involvement of muscarinic receptors.

This study was designed to investigate the effects of the cholinesterase inhibitors soman and pyridostigmine bromide (PB) on synaptic transmission in the CA1 field of rat hippocampal slices. Soman (1-100 nM, 10-15 min) decreased the amplitude of GABAergic postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) evoked by stimulation of Schaffer collaterals and recorded from CA1 pyramidal neurons. It also decreased the amplitude and frequency of spontaneous IPSCs recorded from pyramidal neurons. Whereas the maximal effect of soman on evoked GABAergic transmission was observed at 10 nM, full cholinesterase inhibition was induced by 1 nM soman. After 10-15-min exposure of hippocampal slices to 100 nM PB, GABAergic transmission was facilitated and cholinesterase activity was not significantly affected. At nanomolar concentrations, soman and PB have no direct effect on GABA(A) receptors. The effects of soman and PB on GABAergic transmission were inhibited by the m2 receptor antagonist 11-[[[2-diethylamino-O-methyl]-1-piperidinyl] acetyl]-5,11-dihydrol-6H-pyridol[2,3-b][1,4]benzodiazepine-6- one (1 nM) and the m3 receptor antagonist 4-diphenylacetoxy-N-methyl-piperidine (100 nM), respectively, and by the nonselective muscarinic receptor antagonist atropine (1 microM). Thus, changes in GABAergic transmission are likely to result from direct interactions of soman and PB with m2 and m3 receptors, respectively, located on GABAergic fibers/neurons synapsing onto the neurons under study. Although the effects of 1 nM soman and 100 nM PB were diametrically opposed, they only canceled one another when PB was applied to the neurons before soman. Therefore, PB, acting via m3 receptors, can effectively counteract effects arising from the interactions of soman with m2 receptors in the brain.