Novel capsaicin analogs with conserved chemistry but varying sizes were used as molecular rulers to investigate energetics of conformational changes in the ligand-binding pocket and mechanisms of TRPV1 ligand-gating.
Cortical astrocytes play key roles in NREM sleep by regulating sleep depth and duration through separate GPCR pathways, and differentially control neuronal slow-wave activity in local and remote cortical circuits.
The mobilization or silencing of two heterogeneous pools of synaptic vesicles via different frequencies probably enables granule cell to Purkinje cell synapses to better discriminate between the high-rate code of sensory information and background noise.
A new cortical network model fit directly to multi-neuron recordings reveals that local inhibitory feedback can control neural dynamics, modulate brain state and enhance sensory processing.
Syntaxin 4 regulates retrograde signaling in the postsynaptic compartment at Drosophila synapses by controlling trafficking of Neuroligin and Synaptotagmin 4 cargo.
Two members of a widely studied family of chemoreceptors, the "orphan" chemoreceptor IR21a and its putative co-receptor IR25a, act together to mediate cool sensation in fruit fly larvae.
Filamin, by recruiting a signaling complex to the postsynapse, orchestrates the correct formation and growth of postsynaptic membranes and localization of glutamate receptor subunits.
By regulating protein translation within the neuron, insulin signaling can control neuronal activity by altering the release of neurotransmitter molecules.
Amyloid beta, the major component of plaques in Alzheimer's disease, acutely and reversibly signals to modulate sleep as a function of oligomeric length, independently of neuronal loss.
