We recently have described a new model of ictal-like electrographic activity in the hippocampal slice. When magnesium is eliminated from the medium bathing the hippocampal slice, spontaneously occurring electrical events which closely resemble electrographic seizures can be recorded extracellularly from area CA3. In order to begin to understand the mechanisms of initiation and termination of these seizures, the present study investigated the role of GABAa-mediated inhibition in these processes. Prior to the onset of a seizure recorded from stratum pyramidale of CA3, a twin-pulse stimulus to stratum radiatum of CA3 evoked twin EPSPs. Following the seizure, the same stimulation triggered a strong epileptiform burst. This is consistent with the known reduction of GABAa inhibition after seizures in vivo. Addition of bicuculline, picrotoxin, or penicillin, which reduce the efficacy of GABAa-mediated inhibition in this system, caused triggered epileptiform bursting to occur prior to the seizure as well. They also lowered the threshold for the production of seizures, facilitating their spontaneous occurrence or elicitation by fewer stimulus pulses. This suggests that the GABAa inhibition present in magnesium-free (0-Mg) plus baclofen medium tends to suppress the onset of seizures and raises the seizure threshold. However, these drugs did not prolong the ictal events. This suggests that in this model, GABAa-mediated inhibition is not responsible for termination of the seizure-like activity. Although there is some potentiation of the tonic firing phase of the seizures under these conditions, there is no gross change in the morphology of the events when inhibition is suppressed. In this model, therefore, GABAa-mediated inhibition plays a limited role in determining the structure and duration of the ictal events, but may contribute to the seizure threshold.

Action Potentials↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Seizure activity in vitro: a dual focus model.

Recently, we have reported that the exposure of hippocampal slices in vitro to artificial cerebrospinal fluid (ACSF) containing no added magnesium results in ictal-like (ictaform) activity in area CA3 of the hippocampal formation. Other reports describe such activity in slices of entorhinal cortex (EC) under similar conditions. Because of the close interrelationship between the entorhinal area and the hippocampal formation, we have begun to study, in vitro, brain slices which contain both the entorhinal cortex and the hippocampal formation. In these slices, we have found that, in the magnesium-free (0-Mg2+) model, there is good electrical communication between area CA3 and the EC. Simultaneous recordings of the activity in the EC and CA3 showed that, when the circuitry linking the two areas was intact, the EC tended to initiate the ictaform activity and lead CA3. However, late in the event, CA3 could lead EC. Furthermore, interictal-like spontaneous bursting in CA3 led to a disorganized pattern of ictaform activity in EC. Finally, when the EC was separated from the hippocampal formation, both areas were capable of ictaform activity which was temporally unrelated. This model provides the opportunity to explore the relationship between two epileptogenic areas in vitro, and to compare and contrast the morphology of the ictaform activity present in both structures. As such, it may prove valuable in both pharmacological and physiological studies of seizure disorders.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

An investigation of the expression mechanism of LTP of AMPA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission at hippocampal CA1 synapses using failures analysis and dendritic recordings.

There is considerable controversy surrounding the mechanism of expression of long-term potentiation of AMPA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, a process thought to be important for learning and memory in the mammalian CNS. We have re-examined the expression mechanism of this form of synaptic plasticity using whole-cell dendritic recordings, minimal stimulation to activate one or a few synapses, and failures analysis. Dendritic recordings provide improved resolution of small synaptic events, as compared to previous studies using somatic recordings, because there is less dendritic filtering of signals. We find that long-term potentiation (LTP) is associated with changes in the size of synaptic responses when they occur (potency) in all cells and this is accompanied by significant decreases in failure rate in approximately 60% of the experiments. This suggests that in some cells an increase in quantal amplitude is the sole expression mechanism for LTP and, in the cells where failure rate decreased, there is an additional mechanism causing a change in quantal content.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Evolutionary rearrangement of the amylase genomic regions between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila pseudoobscura.

Two Drosophila pseudoobscura genomic clones have sequence similarity to the Drosophila melanogaster amylase region that maps to the 53CD region on the D. melanogaster cytogenetic map. The two clones with similarity to amylase map to sections 73A and 78C of the D. pseudoobscura third chromosome cytogenetic map. The complete sequences of both the 73A and 78C regions were compared to the D. melanogaster genome to determine if the coding region for amylase is present in both regions and to determine the evolutionary mechanism responsible for the observed distribution of the amylase gene or genes. The D. pseudoobscura 73A and 78C linkage groups are conserved with the D. melanogaster 41E and 53CD regions, respectively. The amylase gene, however, has not maintained its conserved linkage between the two species. These data indicate that amylase has moved via a transposition event in the D. melanogaster or D. pseudoobscura lineage. The predicted genes within the 73A and 78C regions show patterns of molecular evolution in synonymous and nonsynonymous sites that are consistent with previous studies of these two species.

Amylases↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Chromosomal and allozymic diagnosis of three species of Drosophila. Drosophila pseudoobscura, D. persimilis, and D. miranda.

Techniques are presented for distinguishing the sibling species D. pseudoobscura, D. persimilis, and D. miranda in two ways: by differences in the banding sequence of salivary chromosomes, and by the frequencies of allozymes at certain diagnostic loci.

Alleles↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Patterns of care given migrant workers in Utah by private physicians and clinics.

This comparison of the care given migrant workers in Utah by private physicians with that provided by clinics demonstrates that clinics can provide more services and meet more of their needs. For a population group in need of an organization that can function specifically for them, the clinic offers many advantages. The clinic's role can also be expanded to become a focal point in the community for a comprehensive health care program for the disadvantaged. Although the cost of such a program may exceed the cost of traditional curative care from individual private physicians, the potential gains make it worth attempting. If long-term health is valued above short-term palliation, then the clinic would appear to be the best method of achieving this goal.

Adolescent↗