Membrane potential

postsynaptic nerve terminal (the dorsal horn neuron)[1]. Specifically activation of α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methylisoxazole-4-propionate (AMPA)-type and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-type glutamate receptors lead to depolarization and the generation of action potentials which transmits the pain impulses through ascending pathways (e.g. spinothalamic tract ) to the brain. Neuropeptides like substance P are also released into the synapse and have been shown to prolong the depolarization wave elicited by…

minimizes inflammatory reactions of the surrounding cells, and have a good prospect in biomedical applications such as clinic repair material or studying interaction between implanted materials by imitating extracellular matrix.1 Some hydrogels are potential to be injected as they experience viscous…

Analysis of Adenosine receptor blockage’s effects on the electrophysiology of HCTP/OR producing neurons of the Hypothalamus – receptor blockage mediated by Caffeine Introduction In this experiment, the quantification of firing rate changes on a specific neural sub-group will be analyzed via whole cell patch-clamping and the application of the common psychoactive drug-caffeine. The significance of quantifying the electrical signaling of the chosen neuron is to proportionally quantify the…

monomeric protein complexes that use the proton gradient for transport of substrates.46,47 These proteins are characterized by 12-14 membrane spanning loops that form a central pore, allowing export from the cytoplasm to the periplasm or, in Gram positive bacteria, extracellular milieu.47 In Gram negative organisms, these complexes can work in conjunction with outer membrane channels and fusion proteins associated with the RND family, and thus form efflux systems that span the entire cell…

chain with a molecular mass of 150kD. Recently, Type B Botulinum Toxin is also commercially available in market.  Mechanism of Action The main site of action of Botulinum toxin is neuromuscular junction. Normally, at the junction, when action potential depolarises the axon terminal, acetylcholine is released from the synaptic cleft. This process is facilitated by a transport protein, named SNARE (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor)…

When investigating the mechanisms of neural communication and the impact various drugs can have on this its important to take into consideration what these actually mean and whereabouts in the body are the main components. The word neural communication consists of how neurons communicate with each other through their physiological process, and drugs consist of chemicals, substances or medicines that have a physiological and/or psychological effect on the brain and body. Within this essay I will…

Our logic for choosing kinesin for developing CNS therapeutics is based upon our own research, which found that kinesins are transcriptionally upregulated during memory storage and that they are both necessary and sufficient to induce long-term memory storage (LTM) in the marine snail, Aplysia californica (Puthanveettil et al., 2008; Fig 1). Furthermore, other researchers have also discovered that an increase in specific kinesin function in the mouse forebrain improves working memory (Wong et al…

system (PNS), is said to be “myelinated”, while the bare axon is “unmyelinated”. Action potentials travel more rapidly and further in distance along a myelinated axon, this is because they travel by salutatory conduction. This is when the impulse at the first node generates currents that open gated channels…

Myasthenia Gravis Background Myasthenia gravis is a Type II autoimmune disorder in which antibodies form against various types of receptors, kinases, or proteins (1). There are four subtypes of myasthenia gravis, with the most prevalent subtype being due to autoantibodies against the muscle-type acetylcholine receptor, AChR, at the neuromuscular junction (2; 3). The second subtype involves antibodies against the muscle-specific kinase, MuSK, and the third type is due to autoantibodies against…

of peptidoglycan that is enclosed by an outer membrane. The outer membrane is surrounded by special phospholipids composed of fatty acids called lipopolysaccharides that are attached to a glucosamine…