The major regulator of gonadotropin (luteinizing hormone, LH; and follicle-stimulating hormone, FSH) secretion is the peptide gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). It acts via a rise in intracellular Ca$\sp{2+}$ concentration ...
It has been hypothesized that voltage-sensitive conductances present on the dendrites of neurons can influence the summation of EPSPs and hence affect how neurons compile information. Greater than linear summation of EPSPs ...
The goal of this research was to investigate the role of astrocytic glycogen in central nervous system (CNS) white matter (WM) metabolism. Experiments were designed to test two hypotheses: (1) Metabolites other than glucose ...
A previous study from our laboratory found that evoked spikes were followed by a long lasting afterdepolarization (ADP) in neocortical pyramidal neurons when metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) agonists were present ...
Pulmonary blood flow distribution is affected by many factors, including gravity, hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV), lung volume and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). In the lateral posture, the effects of ...
Galanin-like peptide (GALP) shares partial sequence identity with galanin and exhibits agonistic activity at galanin receptors (GALR1 and GALR2) in vitro. GALP neurons almost exclusively reside within the arcuate nucleus, ...
Although successful meeting of sperm and egg is vital for continuation of life, critical gaps exist in our understanding of fertilization and events that prepare sperm for it. Understanding how sperm prepare for fertilization ...
In skeletal muscle, the dystrophin-associated protein complex (DPC) links the intracellular actin cytoskeleton to the extracellular matrix. Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and various other muscular dystrophies are caused ...
Muscle is highly organized in both the axial direction and the radial direction, or the direction of contraction and the direction orthogonal to it. As muscle generates force, it does so in both the axial and radial ...
L-type Ca<super>2+</super> (Ca<sub>V</sub>1.2) channels shape the cardiac action potential waveform and are essential for excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in the heart. We find that a transient subpopulation of 2 to ...
Before physically dividing into two nascent daughter cells, a cell must first duplicate, organize and segregate its entire genome. During mitosis, chromosomes are aligned along an axis of symmetry and then pulled apart by ...
Proteolytic cleavage of amyloid precursor protein (APP) generates the amyloid β peptide (Aβ), the main component of cortical and subcortical plaques in Alzheimer's disease (AD). APP can be processed at the cell surface or ...
The output of a "traditional" brain computer-interface (BCI) is the operation of an effector mechanism, like a cursor or a prosthetic arm. In contrast, the output of a recurrent brain-computer interface (rBCI) is electrical ...
Experientially, our ability to visually perceive the world seems extraordinary, yet we keep asking ourselves: "could perception be better?" This dissertation centers around this question, exploring how the biophysics of ...
<bold>Part I:</bold> In primates, corticomotoneuronal (CM) cells have sufficiently strong synaptic linkages to motoneurons to mediate post-spike facilitation in spike-triggered averages of muscle activity. We investigated ...
Classically, GABAB receptors regulate neurotransmission primarily through presynaptic mechanisms that inhibit neurotransmitter release, and thus inhibit GABAA receptor function. Many studies have shown that postsynaptic ...