Membrane Biology ePosters

AMPA receptors (AMPARs) mediate fast excitatory neurotransmission and participate in memory formation. Synaptic strength is proportional to the number of AMPARs in the postsynaptic membrane. Previous models of AMPA receptor trafficking can explain their fast, brief incorporation in dendritic spines after LTP induction…

Understanding the mechanisms regulating Ca2+ concentrations in the presynapse is crucial for synaptic function. The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) acts as a finite calcium store and can modulate calcium signals involved in presynaptic neurotransmitter release. While computational studies have shed light on the…

Slow brain rhythms, observed during slow-wave sleep or seizures, often coincide with oscillations in extracellular potassium levels. These rhythms have a lower frequency compared to a typical neuron’s tonic firing. Mechanisms organizing these rhythms are believed to rely on synaptic interactions within the network or…

Hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated (HCN) channel is thought to play a key role in the modulation of dendritic and somatic excitability in neurons [1]. The enigmatic HCN channel, enigmatic because of the long puzzling relation between HCN expression and neural function [1, 2, 3], has an inhomogeneous…

Familial hemiplegic migraine type 3 (FHM-3) is a type of migraine with aura, caused by gain-of-function mutations of NaV1.1 [1,2]. This voltage-gated channel is mainly expressed in fast-spiking inhibitory neurons as their dominant Na+ channel. Cortical spreading depolarization, a wave of hyperexcitability followed by…

Low-intensity ultrasound neuromodulation is a rapidly emerging technology due to its non-invasiveness and millimeter-scale precision. Despite numerous experimental settings demonstrating that ultrasonic waves can modulate the neural activity in different brain areas, the interaction between the ultrasonic source and…

The evolution of the Na$^+$/K$^+$-ATPase in ancestral methanogenic archaea also lay the foundation for the energetics of energy-intensive signaling tissues like the metazoan nervous systems billions of years later [1]. The electrogenic property of this pump, which leads to activity-dependent feedback [2], seems a…

Automated voltage-clamp recordings from 40 voltage-gated potassium (Kv) channels [1] revealed the inherent kinetic heterogeneity of some Kv types expressed in the brain (e.g. Kv1.3). A model capable of capturing the kinetic Kv heterogeneity requires both fixed model features shared between cells, and the ability to…

Dopamine (DA) neurons in the substantia nigra are vital for the control of movement. This fundamental function is encoded by the output signal of DA neurons which switches from spontaneous firing to bursts of action potentials. The latter produces an increase of DA release in targeted areas which is associated to…

Gangliosides, complex membrane glycosphingolipids, engage in a variety of inter- and intracellular interactions, and play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of various neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. Another membrane constituent, leptin receptor (LepR), modulates feeding behavior by influencing signaling…

PKA, influenced by retrograde signalling from muscle contraction, enhances neurotransmission at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). This occurs through the phosphorylation of key molecules in synaptic vesicle exocytosis, SNAP-25 and Synapsin-1. The BDNF/TrkB pathway, augmented by muscle contraction, is a known regulator…

Healthy brain activity relies on the presence of key astrocytic proteins: the excitatory amino acid transporters (EAAT1/2), inwardly rectifying K+ channel (Kir4.1), aquaporin-4 (AQP4) among others. In the aging cortex, we report a novel phenotype of individual, sparse, non-reactive astrocytes with unchanged…

Astrocytes are dynamic cells that closely interact with neurons and play major roles in brain functions. Although their involvement in sensory processing has been highlighted in different brain regions, their contribution to vision processing remains poorly explored in the superior colliculus (SC), a central structure…

Astrocytic dysfunctions have increasingly been recognized as a significant element in epilepsy pathophysiology. The prominent expression of connexin channels is one of the key features of astrocytes, essential for their extensive intercellular coupling. It is currently debated whether astrocytic connexins have pro- or…

The axon initial segment (AIS) is a critical compartment in neurons. It converts postsynaptic input into action potentials that trigger information transfer to target cells. This process relies on several voltage-gated sodium (Nav) and potassium (Kv) channels that accumulate in high densities at the AIS. Here, we…

Glycinergic synapses between the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB) and the lateral superior olive (LSO) are involved in sound source localization. These synapses can reliably transmit inhibitory signals, even during minutes of high-frequency activation. Glycine transporter 2 (GlyT2) is involved in glycine…

Calcium ions (Ca2+) play pivotal roles in regulating diverse brain functions, including cognition, emotion, locomotion, and learning and memory. These functions are intricately regulated by a variety of Ca2+-dependent cellular processes, encompassing synaptic plasticity, neuro/gliotransmitter release, and gene…

There is a substantial effort, and cost, invested towards biophysical modeling of brain networks. Practically all biophysical models of voltage-activated conductances use Hodgkin-Huxley (HH) mechanisms obtained at an experimental temperature and adjusted to a modeling temperature. To do so, all models use the…

Nowadays, 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain. Current neuropharmacology and neurostimulation treatments are associated with suboptimal efficacy, due to a lack of understanding of the pain system. A major contributor to many persistent clinical pain states is the phenomenon of central sensitization---a state…

Nonlinear, multiplication-like operations carried out by individual nerve cells greatly enhance the computational power of a neural system, but our understanding of their biophysical nature is scant. We pursue this problem in the Drosophila ON motion vision circuit, where we record the membrane potentials of…