Topic: excitatory/inhibitory balance

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by early non-cognitive dysfunctions. Recent studies have reported synaptic alterations in limbic circuits in AD animal models, even before amyloid plaque appearance. The basolateral amygdala (BLA) is a critical region of the limbic system involved in diverse emotional processing, and studies in human and AD animal models have reported that it is altered in early AD. However, whether synaptic and excitability properties are altered in the BLA in AD has not been studied. In this study, we used 6-month-old APP/PS1

Microglia seem able to alter the excitatory/inhibitory balance in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs (DREADDs) enable cell-specific modulation. We aim to investigate whether Gi-DREADD-based modulation of microglia reduces the amount of spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRS) in a mouse model of TLE.CX3CR1CreERT2/CreERT2 mice were crossed with R26LSL-Gi-DREADD/LSL-Gi-DREADD mice to obtain CX3CR1CreERT2/+:R26LSL-Gi-DREADD/+ and CX3CR1CreERT2/+:R26+/+ mice, as controls. Tamoxifen was administered to induce Gi-DREADD expression in CX3CR1+ cells. F

Aim: Motor learning significantly impacts daily life, triggering notable changes in the primary motor cortex (M1) and basal ganglia (BG). Dopamine (DA) mediates these changes, with Darpp-32 playing a key role in DA transmission. Although extensively studied in the BG's striatum, Darpp-32's function in the motor cortex remains largely unexplored. This study aims to characterize Darpp-32 in motor cortices, examining cellular expression and its impact on motor behavior, synaptic and structural plasticity.Methods: Anatomical study: Using C57BL/6 mice, we examined Darpp-32 distribution across corti

Deficits in sensory perception characterize Huntington disease (HD), alongside motor and cognitive impairments. This study investigates altered cortical network connectivity in HD, focusing on sensory spread, where sensory stimulation provokes more extensive cortical activity in HD model mice compared to wild-type (WT) controls.In vivo, we utilized widefield, mesoscale calcium imaging in the awake, head-fixed zQ175 mouse model of HD, crossed with Thy1-GCaMP mice, expressing GCaMP in cortical pyramidal neurons. In vivo, LED flashes induced visual responses imaged through an intact-skull cranial

In the brain, the neuronal activity is kept and controlled by a precise and well-defined “Excitatory/Inhibitory balance” among neurons, which holds importance in neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders. With the final aim of generating a reliable in vitro system of the human brain, this work was focused on the interplay between excitatory (E) and inhibitory (I) neurons in neural networks derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), deepening the critical role of heterogeneity. We exploited high-density Micro-Electrode Arrays (MEAs, 2304 electrodes) to explore two neur

Parenting is essential for the well-being of newborns. Laboratory virgin female mice exhibit parental behaviors, including pup retrieval, a phenotype that becomes progressively more efficient when exposed to multiple pups. Yet, the neuronal substrate that supports such behavioral improvement remains unexplored. Previous studies highlight the lateral habenula (LHb) as a substrate for parental behaviors in virgin females. Notably, a population of LHb cells innervated by the excitatory bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) shows increased activity during pup retrieval. Consistently, perturba