NSCI 601 - Spring 2008 - Topics in Synaptic Transmission close window
Tuesdays 1:00 - 3:50 - NE403 Med/Dent
Barry Wolfe bwolfe01@georgetown.edu
Assignments of specific papers to specific students
will not be done.
Everyone will be expected to participate on each paper.
Be sure you understand
a. The overall goals of the paper
b. The specific conclusions of the paper
You should annotate each figure in your copy of the paper to remind yourself in class
regarding:
a. The purpose of the experiment for each figure
(why did they do this
expt?)
b. The methods used in each figure
(what did they do in this
expt?)
c. The conclusions reached from the results of each figure
(what did they learn from
this expt?)
If you have problems understanding something, please come talk to me in
advance
___________________________________________________________
January 22 - Neurexin/Neuroligin interactions
Paper to Read:
1.
Neurexin
mediates the assembly of presynaptic terminals. Nature Neuroscience 6:
708, 2003
Background Papers to skim:
Good Review
Li and Sheng: Some Assembly Required. Nature Reviews Mol. Cell. Biol. 4: 833, 2003
January 29 - Making synapses in non-neuronal cells
Paper to Read:
Background Paper to skim:
Febrary 5 - It's not just glutamate!
Paper to Read:
February 19 - Rebekah
Main papers - Chubykin et al. Activity Dependent Validation of Excitatory versus Inhibitory Synapses by Neuroligin-1
versus Neuroligin-2.
Neuron 54:919, 2007
This paper proposes a new hypothesis for what the neuroligin-neurexin interaction is doing with
regard to synapse formation. It rejects the current hypothesis that they participate in the initial
formation of the synapse.
Reviews and background - Chih et al. Alternative splicing controls selective trans-synaptic interactions of the
neuroligin-neurexin complex.
Neuron 51:171, 2006
This paper presents data that says certain splice variants of neuroligin-1 and -2 can
promote the 'other' type of synapse. Thus splicing controls whether a synapse becomes
glutamatergic or GABAergic. Rebekah's paper disagrees AND calls into question the
validity of using the HEK cell 'synapse'.
February 26 - Rebekah
Main papers - Shankar GM, Bloodgood et al. Natural oligomers of the Alzheimer amyloid-beta protein induce reversible
synapse loss by modulating an NMDA-type glutamate receptor-dependent signaling pathway.
J Neurosci. 27:2866, 2007
Reviews and background -
March 4 - Spring Break
March 11 - Rebekah
Main paper - Dunah AW & Standaert DG. Dopamine D1 receptor-dependent trafficking of striatal NMDA glutamate receptors
to the postsynaptic membrane.
J Neurosci. 21:5546, 2001
Reviews and background -
March 18 - Scott
Main paper - Marchoionni et al. In the developing rat hippocampus a tonic GABAA-mediated conductance selectively
enhances the glutamatergic drive of principal cells.
J. Physiol. 581:515, 2007
Reviews and background -
March 25 - Scott
Main paper - Lemtiri-Chlieh and Levine. Lack of depolarization-induced suppression of inhibition (DSI) in layer 2/3
interneurons that receive cannabinoid-sensitive inhibitory inputs
J. Neurophysiol. 98:2517, 2007
Reviews and background -
April 1 - Scott
Main paper - Stevens et al. The classical complement cascade mediates CNS synapse elimination
Cell 131:1034, 2007
Reviews and background - Huh et al. Functional requirement for class I MHC in CNS development and plasticity
Science 290:2051, 2000
April 8 - Patrick
Main paper - Lindemann et al. Trace Amine-Associate Receptor 1 Modulates Dopaminergic Activity.
J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 324:948, 2008
April 15 - Patrick
Main paper - Shindou et al. Actions of adenosine A2A receptors on synaptic
connections of spiny projections neurons in the neostriatal inhibitory network.
J. Neurophysiol. 2008 Feb 13 Epub ahead of print
April 22 - Patrick
Main paper - Zhang et al. In vivo regulation of Homer1a expression in the striatum by cocaine.
Mol Pharmacol 71:1148, 2007
close window