Topic: vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP)

Inhibitory neurons in the cortex are highly diverse in terms of anatomy, electrophysiology and functions. In the mouse cortex, three major classes of interneurons expressing parvalbumin (PV), somatostatin (SST) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) constitute more than 80% of GABAergic interneurons. Together with excitatory (E) neurons, they form a canonical microcircuit relevant for cortical computations. Multiple experimental studies have revealed that this canonical microcircuit can exhibit counterintuitive nonlinear behavior. More specifically, the circuit can perform response reversal w

The fundamental language of the brain is articulated by timing and frequency patterns of neuronal output that are interpreted by receiving neurons through a basic mechanism known as short-term plasticity (STP). However, these synaptic dynamics exhibit considerable heterogeneity both within and across genetically defined cell types which poses a critical barrier to interpreting this language. Beninger et al. addressed this heterogeneity in excitatory human and rodent synapses by organizing their dynamics into functional subtypes which cannot be explained by continuum hypotheses and partly overl

Neuronal responses to sensory stimuli are strongly modulated by an animal’s brain state. Three distinct subtypes of inhibitory interneurons, parvalbumin (PV), somatostatin (SOM), and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) expressing cells, have been identified as key players in flexibly modulating sensory responses [1]. The three interneuron populations have specialized local microcircuit motifs and are targeted differentially by neuromodulators and top-down inputs from higher-order cortical areas. However, the distinct contribution of each interneuron subtype to modulating a cortical network’s d

Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP), Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide (CGRP) and Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) are multi-functional neuropeptides that have been linked to debilitating conditions such as migraine. Moreover, Anti-PACAP and anti-CGRP antibodies have demonstrated clinical efficacy in Phase II and Phase III trials for treatment of migraine, respectively. Due to considerable homology and structural similarities, VIP and PACAP can bind to and signal via the same three functional G-Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCR), PAC1R, VPAC1R and VPAC2R. CGRP on the othe