This study was undertaken to resolve the conflict between two existing studies regarding the layer in the dentate gyrus where the septal fibers terminate. This was accomplished by injecting radioact ively labelled amino acids into the medial septum where they were incorporated into protein by the cell bodies and transported to the nerve terminals. Autoradiographic grain counts showed labelling was moderately heavy in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus, whereas labelling was scant in the molecular layer. These findings support the work of Raisman et al., (1965), but indicate the degeneration seen by Mosko, et al., (1973) in the molecular layer may have been artefactual. The ultrastructure of the septal terminals in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus was described. These terminals formed asymmetrical synapses onto dendrites and spines, and contained clear round vesicles. They resembled cholinergic nerve terminals described in other regions of the brain. These findings agree with accumulating evidence that the septo-dentate pathway is cholinergic. / Medicine, Faculty of / Graduate

Les exosomes sont des vésicules d’origine endosomale sécrétées par les cellules dans leur environnement après fusion à la membrane plasmique des endosomes multivésiculés. Les exosomes représentent un nouveau mode de communication entre les cellules en permettant un transfert direct de protéines, de lipides et d’ARN. L’objectif de ma thèse était d’étudier le rôle des exosomes dans la communication entre les neurones. Précédemment, le laboratoire a montré que les neurones sécrètent des exosomes de manière régulée par l’activité synaptique. Nous avons observé que les exosomes neuronaux ne sont endocytés que par les neurones. Après avoir montré qu’ils ne contiennent que des ARN courts, nous avons réalisé un séquençage complet de leurs microARN et observé que ces microARN étaient sélectivement exportés dans les exosomes. Nos observations suggèrent que les microARN contenus dans les exosomes peuvent modifier la physiologie des neurones receveurs. Nos résultats renforcent l’hypothèse du rôle des exosomes dans la communication entre les neurones via le transfert de microARN. / Exosomes are vesicles of endocytic origin released by cells into their environment following fusion of multivesicular endosomes with the plasma membrane. Exosomes represent a novel mechanism of cell communication allowing direct transfer of proteins, lipids and RNA. The goal of my PhD thesis was to study that exosomes represent a novel way of interneuronal communication. Our team has previously reported that neurons release exosomes in a way tightly regulated by synaptic activity. We observed that exosomes released by neurons are only endocytosed by neurons. We found that exosomes contain only small RNA and did a deep sequencing of all their microRNA. MicroRNA are selectively exported into exosomes. It seems that exosomal microRNA can modify the physiology of receiving neurons. Our results strengthen the hypothesis of the role of exosomes in the interneuronal communication by the way of microARN transfert.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1995. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

Thesis (doctoral)--Lund University, 1995. / Added t.p. with thesis statement inserted.

In the hippocampus, transient tetanic stimulations of inputs, or brief simultaneous pairings of conditioning intracellular postsynaptic depolarizations with activated presynaptic afferents at low stimulation frequencies, result in input specific long-term potentiation (LTP) of synaptic transmission. LTP lasts for hours in vitro, or weeks in vivo, and it is thought to be involved in memory and learning. Experimental evidence in the literature suggests that postsynaptic mechanisms mediate LTP induction, whereas presynaptic mechanisms are involved in its maintenance. Since LTP is thought to be generated by postsynaptic mechanisms and to be subsequently maintained by presynaptic processes, this suggests the presence of feedback interactions during LTP development, however, the experimental evidence for such interactions is presently not available. Consequently, the present studies were conducted to examine possible feedback interactions between postsynaptic and presynaptic elements in the hippocampus. Furthermore, the experiments tested the hypothesis that substances released during tetanic stimulations caused the release of endogenous substances that interacted with activated afferents resulting in alterations in presynaptic functions and LTP production. Experiments were conducted using transversely sectioned guinea pig hippocampal slices. Briefly, physiological medium containing 3.5 mNi Ba++ and 0.5 mM Ca (denoted as Ba medium) was used to induce the asynchronous release of transmitters, observed as evoked miniature EPSPs (minEPSPs) in CA1b neurons after stimulation of the stratum radiatum. During transient Ba++ applications, short bursts of evoked minEPSPs were observed following stimulations of the stratum radiatum or conditioning depolarizing current injections into CA1b neurons. Moreover, the frequencies of minEPSPs were significantly increased immediately after simultaneous stimulations of the stratum radiatum and conditioning depolarizing current injections into CA1b neurons. Significant increases in the frequencies of evoked minEPSPs were also observed during LTP induced by tetanic stimulations. The above increases in the frequencies of evoked minEPSPs were attributed, in part, to presynaptic changes resulting in increases in transmitters released. However, a thorough quanta! analysis is requirea to substantiate this conclusion. In order to determine whether any substances released during tetanic stimulations were involved in the mooulation of presynaptic functions and induction of LTP, samples were collected from guinea pig hippocampus and rabbit neocortex. It was found that samples that were collected during tetanic stimulations of the guinea pig hippocampus in vivo or rabbit neocortex in vivo produced LTP in the guinea pig hippocampal slice in vitro. Applications of these samples after heating and cooling failed to induce LTP. Subsequent studies demonstrated that PC-12 cells incubated in growth medium treated with samples collected during tetanic stimulations of the rabbit neocortex developed extensive neurite growths. In contrast, PC-12 cell cultures incubated in (1) heated and cooled samples, (2) samples collected in the absence of tetanic stimulations of the rabbit neocortex, or (3) plain growth medium, failed to develop neurite growths. In addition, PC-12 cell cultures that were incubatea in growth medium containing samples collected during tetanic stimulations plus saccharin (10 mM), a substance known to inhibit N6F-dependent neurite growth, failed to develop neurites. In separate experiments it was found that saccharin could block (1) the synaptic potentiating effects of the above collected and applied endogenous substances, and (2) LTP induced with tetanic stimulations, in the guinea pig hippocampus in vitro. The concentrations of saccharin used in these studies had insignificant effects on resting membrane potentials, input resistances, spontaneous or evoked responses of CA1b neurons. Furthermore, CA1b neuronal depolarizations induced by N-methyl-DL-aspartate (NMDA) or with tetanic stimulations of the stratum radiatum, were not altered by saccharin applications. In addition, saccharin had insignificant effects on paired-pulse facilitation, post-tetanic potentiations, minEPSP frequencies in CA1b neurons, and Schaffer collaterals terminal excitability. These results suggest that saccharin blocked LTP through mechanisms different from either non-specific alterations in CA1b cell properties or NMDA receptor activation. Perhaps the agent antagonized LTP at a step beyond NMDA receptor activation. That saccharin blocked LTP caused by the applied neocortical sample as well as by tetanic stimulation of the stratum radiatum, and that saccharin also blocked neurite growth in PC-12 cells induced by the neocortical samples, raises the prospect that growth related substances are involved in LTP generation. In other control experiments, it was found that the potentiating effects of the collected endogenous substances were not antagonised by atropine or dihydro-e-erythroidine. Heated and then cooled solutions of glutamate (a putative transmitter at the Schaffer col laterals-CA1b synapses) still maintained their actions on the CA1b population spike. While brief applications of 2.5 μg/ml exogenous NGF (from Vipera lebetina) during low frequency stimulations of the stratum radiatum did not consistently induce LTP, this peptide significantly facilitated the development of LTP when applied in association with tetanic stimulations of weak inputs in the CA1b area. These weak inputs could not support LTP if tetanized in the absence of the exogenous NGF. The results of the studies in this thesis suggested that postsynaptic depolarizations modulated presynaptic functions in the hippocampus. Tetanic stimulations in hippocampus and neocortex caused the release of diffusible substances, which were probably growth related macromolecules, that interacted with activated presynaptic afferents and/or subsynaptic dendritic elements resulting in LTP development. The precise locus of actions of these agents awaits further investigations. / Medicine, Faculty of / Anesthesiology, Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Department of / Graduate

Le développement du système nerveux comprend plusieurs phases : neurogénèse, migration cellulaire, croissance des neurites, synaptogénèse et raffinement synaptique. Cette dernière étape de remodelage est cependant mal connue au niveau des mécanismes cellulaires et synaptiques. Par des enregistrements cellulaires en configuration cellule entière voltage imposé, nous avons caractérisé la maturation synaptique de la fibre lemniscale du système somato-sensoriel des vibrisses chez la souris. Nous avons démontré que les neurones du noyau ventral-postérieur-médian (VPM) du thalamus chez une souris âgée de 7 à 9 jours post-natals (JPN) sont innervés par environ 8 fibres et que ce nombre diminue entre 1 et 3 (moyenne de 1.4) après la troisième semaine post-natale (PN). Cette diminution d'innervation sensorielle démontre que la maturation des fibres lemniscales comprend une élimination de synapses. De plus, cette période d'élimination s'accompagne de plusieurs changements synaptiques tels une augmentation du ratio des réponses AMPA/NMDA (Alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-ioxyzole-4-propionic acid (AMPA); N-methyl-D-asparate (NMDA)), une diminution du temps de descente et de la sensibilité à l'ifenprodil (antagoniste des sous-unité NR2B) des réponses NMDA, une augmentation dans la force des premières réponses AMPA et une augmentation du maximum des réponses AMPA et NMDA. La rectification des courants AMPA entrants et la plasticité synaptique à court terme (indice de probabilité de relâchement) ne changent pas au cours de cette période. De manière surprenante, la privation d'expérience sensorielle n'affecte pas l'élimination des synapses ainsi que les changements synaptiques de cette période développementale.

No description available.

No description available.

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