Fast synaptic transmission relies upon the activation of ionotropic receptors by neurotransmitter release to evoke postsynaptic potentials. Glutamate and GABA play dominant roles in driving highly dynamic activity in synaptically connected neuronal circuit ...
Here, the authors use smFRET to assess the structural dynamics of metabotropic glutamate receptor mGlu2 and show that a positive allosteric modulator or the Gi protein stabilize mGlu2 in the glutamate-induced active state, leading to the full activation of ...
Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (pLGICs) of the Cys-loop receptor family are key players in fast signal transduction throughout the nervous system. They have been shown to be modulated by the lipid environment, however the underlying mechanism is not ...
Studies have shown that both nicotine and sleep spindles are associated with enhanced memorisation. Further, a few recent studies have shown how cholinergic input through nicotinic and muscarinic receptors can trigger or modulate sleep processes in general ...
Pentameric ligand-gated ion channels (LGICs) play an important role in fast synaptic signal transduction. Binding of agonists to the beta-sheet-structured extracellular domain opens an ion channel in the transmembrane alpha-helical region of the LGIC. How ...
Whilst γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the main inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system (CNS), suitable tools to measure its concentration in living cells with high spatiotemporal resolution are missing. This thesis describes the first rati ...
To sense myriad environmental odors, animals have evolved multiple, large families of divergent olfactory receptors. How and why distinct receptor repertoires and their associated circuits are functionally and anatomically integrated is essentially unknown ...
Transmitter release at synapses is driven by elevated intracellular Ca2+ concentration (Ca2+) near the sites of vesicle fusion. Ca2+ signals of profoundly different amplitude and kinetics drive the phasic release component during a presynaptic ac ...
Membrane protein dynamics is of great importance for living organisms. The precise localization of proteins composing a synapse on the membrane facing a nerve terminus is essential for proper functioning of the nervous system. In muscle fibers, the nicotin ...
Olfaction appears to be mediated by a large family of odorant receptors (ORs) that accounts for ~ 1% of the human genome [1–4]. The functional characterization of these receptors has so far been hindered by their poor functional expression in the plasma me ...
