Browsing by Subject "Plasticity"

Kainate receptors are known to regulate neuronal function in the brain (Li, H., & Rogawski, M. A. (1998), Braga, M. F. et al. (2004), Lerma & Marques (2013), Carta, M (2014)). In the amygdala, they have been shown to affect synaptic transmission and plasticity, as well as glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) release (Li, H. et al. (2001). Braga, M. F. et al. (2003), Braga, M. F. et al. (2009), Aroniadou-Anderjaska, V. et al. (2012), Negrete‐Díaz, J. V. et al. (2012)), however, their role during development of the amygdala circuitry is not known. In the present study, we wished to understand how GluK1 kainate receptors regulate synaptic population activity and plasticity in the developing amygdala by using extracellular field recordings in P15-18 Wistar Han rat pup brain slices. Since field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSPs) are not commonly measured from the amygdala, we first sought to pharmacologically characterize the basic properties of the extracellular signal, recorded from the basolateral amygdala in response to stimulation of the external capsulae (EC). Having confirmed the validity of the fEPSP as a measure of postsynaptic population response, we were able to show that blocking GluK1 with (S)-1-(2-Amino-2-carboxyethyl)-3-(2-carboxy-5-phenylthiophene-3-yl-methyl)-5-methylpyrimidine-2,4-dione (ACET), a selective GluK1 antagonist, had no effect on the fEPSP. Furthermore, activation of GluK1 with RS-2-amino-3-(3-hydroxy-5-tert-butylisoxazol-4-yl) propanoic acid (ATPA), a GluK1 agonist, reduced the amplitude of the fEPSP, without affecting its slope, suggesting an increase in inhibitory signaling within the network. Blocking GABAergic activity with GABAA- receptor antagonist picrotoxin significantly reduced the effects of ATPA. Additionally, the increase in inhibitory signaling due to the activation of GluK1 was confirmed with whole-cell voltage clamp, by measuring spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic current (sIPSC) frequency. Activation of GluK1 heavily increased sIPSC frequency in the basolateral amygdala neurons. Finally, we were also able to show that activation of GluK1 with ATPA strongly attenuates LTP induction. These results show that GluK1 kainate receptors play a vital role in the modulation of synaptic transmission and plasticity in the developing amygdala.

Climate change is applying pressures to plant populations, which must adapt or move to retain fitness. A changing climate highlights the need for us to understand the potential that species possess to evolve in addition to any plastic responses. Approaches that allow the study of contemporary evolution, such as resurrection studies, have the capacity to provide insights into the responses of populations to these changes. In this resurrection experiment, seeds from seven populations of Hypericum perforatum collected from the UK and France, and their historic counterparts, were grown and subjected to four temperature treatments. Three traits were measured and compared between historic and contemporary populations: date of flowering, average seed weight and flower abundance. I found that temperature influenced date of flowering and flower abundance, leading to an overall earlier flowering time and an overall decrease in flower abundance with increase in temperature. The only significant difference between historic and contemporary populations was found in flower abundance - where, whilst flower abundance declined with increasing temperature, contemporary populations produced proportionally more flowers than historic populations per degree of temperature increase. These results suggest that plasticity allows this species to adjust its flowering phenology to retain fitness in warmer conditions but that evolution during the past decades may have selected for a decreased flower abundance at higher temperatures. These findings contribute to our overall understanding of how species have and will react under climate change, as we try to disentangle the roles that plasticity and evolution play in enabling populations to retain fitness under changing conditions.

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) is a serine protease that cleaves the inactive plasminogen to a broad-spectrum protease plasmin. Plasmin is involved in the degradation of blood clots by breaking down the fibrin network. In addition to it's role in the fibrinolytic system, tPA participates in the functions of the central nervous system. tPA is expressed in several brain areas and has been shown to be involved in neuronal plasticity. tPA's effects on brain plasticity are mediated in part via degradation of extracellular matrix proteins, but mainly via processing of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). Plasmin cleaves pro-BDNF into BDNF that serves as primary endogenous ligand for TrkB neurotrophin receptor. TrkB signalling is strongly associated with the regulation of neuronal plasticity such as neurogenesis, synaptogenesis and long-term potentiation (LTP). On the contrary, pro-BDNF binds and activates p75 neurotrophin receptor that regulates many distinct, even opposite, effects on neuronal plasticity such as long-term depression and synapse refraction. Enhancement of brain plasticity is considered to be important for the therapeutic effects of antidepressant drugs and this is at least partially mediated via BDNF. Antidepressants activate TrkB receptors and increase BDNF protein levels in the rodent brain but the mechanism behind this remains obscure. Given that tPA is an important factor in the processing of BDNF, it is a possible mediator for antidepressants' neurotrophic effects. The effects of antidepressants on tPA activity have been previously studied only in the blood circulatory system. The aim of the experimental part of this Master's thesis was to examine the effects of antidepressant fluoxetine on tPA activity and protein levels in mouse hippocampus. Also the effects of fluoxetine on BDNF-TrkB signalling were studied. Fluoxetine was administered to mice acutely (30 mg/kg, i.p., 1 h) and chronically (0,08 mg/ml in drinking water, 3 weeks). tPA activity was studied using SDS-PAGE - and in situzymographies. TrkB activation, tPA and BDNF protein levels were measured using western blot. BDNF protein levels were also examined with ELISA method. No changes in tPA activity were found after acute fluoxetine treatment. In line with this result is the observation that also the BDNF levels remained unchanged. However, TrkB receptor activity was increased in fluoxetine treated mice. It seems possible that BDNF is not involved in the TrkB activation caused by acute fluoxetine treatment. Chronic fluoxetine treatment caused a significant increase in the BDNF protein levels compared to water-drinking control mice. This was not, however, associated with significant changes in TrkB activity. No changes in tPA activity were observed, which suggests that tPA is not involved in the increase of BDNF levels after chronic fluoxetine treatment. Interestingly, tPA antibody detected three distinct proteins in western blot of whose levels acute fluoxetine treatment regulated. However, more studies are needed to identify these proteins and to reveal the significance of such an effect of fluoxetine. According to this study, neither acute nor chronic fluoxetine treatment affects tPA activity in mouse hippocampus. However, environmental enrichment has been shown to enhance tPA activity and produce similar neurotrophic effects as chronic fluoxetine treatment. Therefore the result of this study concerning effect of chronic antidepressant treatment on tPA activity should be verified.