The extracellular membrane surface contains a substantial amount of negatively charged sialic acid residues. Some of the sialic acids are located close to the pore of voltage-gated channel, substantially influencing their gating properties. However, the role of sialylation of the extracellular membrane in modulation of neuronal and network activity remains primarily unknown. The level of sialylation is controlled by neuraminidase (NEU), the key enzyme that cleaves sialic acids. Here we show that NEU treatment causes a large depolarizing shift of voltage-gated sodium channel activation/inactivation and action potential (AP) threshold without any change in the resting membrane potential of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons. Cleavage of sialic acids by NEU also reduced sensitivity of sodium channel gating and AP threshold to extracellular calcium. At the network level, exogenous NEU exerted powerful anticonvulsive action both in vitro and in acute and chronic in vivo models of epilepsy. In contrast, a NEU blocker (N-acetyl-2,3-dehydro-2-deoxyneuraminic acid) dramatically reduced seizure threshold and aggravated hippocampal seizures. Thus, sialylation appears to be a powerful mechanism to control neuronal and network excitability. We propose that decreasing the amount of extracellular sialic acid residues can be a useful approach to reduce neuronal excitability and serve as a novel therapeutic approach in the treatment of seizures.

Acid sensing ion channels 1a (ASIC1a) are of crucial importance in numerous physiological and pathological processes in the brain. Here we demonstrate that novel 2-oxo-2H-chromene-3-carboxamidine derivative 5b, designed with molecular modeling approach, inhibits ASIC1a currents with an apparent IC50 of 27 nM when measured at pH 6.7. Acidification to 5.0 decreases the inhibition efficacy by up to 3 orders of magnitude. The 5b molecule not only shifts pH dependence of ASIC1a activation but also inhibits its maximal evoked response. These findings suggest that compound 5b binds to pH sensor of ASIC1a acting as orthosteric noncompetitive antagonist. At 100 nM, compound 5b completely inhibits induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in CA3-CA1 but not in MF-CA3 synapses. These findings support the knockout data indicating the crucial modulatory role of ASIC1a channels in the NMDAR-dependent LTP and introduce a novel type of ASIC1a antagonists.

The association between type 2 diabetes and obesity is very strong, and cardiovascular complications are the major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to investigate early changes in the pattern of genes encoding cardiac muscle regulatory proteins and associated changes in ventricular myocyte contraction and Ca 2+ transport in young (9-to 13-week-old) type 2 Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats. The amplitude of myocyte shortening was unaltered; however, time-to-peak shortening and time to half-relaxation of shortening were prolonged in ZDF myocytes (163 ± 5 and 127 ± 7 ms, respectively) compared with age-matched control rats (136 ± 5 and 103 ± 4 ms, respectively). The amplitude of the Ca 2+ transient was unaltered; however, time-to-peak Ca 2+ transient was prolonged in ZDF myocytes (66.9 ± 2.6 ms) compared with control myocytes (57.6 ± 2.3 ms). The L-type Ca 2+ current was reduced, and inactivation was prolonged over a range of test potentials in ZDF myocytes. At 0 mV, the density of L-type Ca 2+ current was 1.19 ± 0.28 pA pF −1 in ZDF myocytes compared with 2.42 ± 0.40 pA pF −1 in control myocytes. Sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca 2+ content, release and uptake and myofilament sensitivity to Ca 2+ were unaltered in ZDF myocytes compared with control myocytes. Expression of genes encoding various L-type Ca 2+ channel proteins (Cacna1c, Cacna1g , Cacna1h and Cacna2d1) and cardiac muscle proteins (Myh7) were upregulated, and genes encoding intracellular Ca 2+ transport regulatory proteins (Atp2a2 and Calm1) and some cardiac muscle proteins (Myh6, Myl2, Actc1, Tnni3, Tnn2, and Tnnc1) were downregulated in ZDF heart compared with control heart. A change in the expression of genes encoding myosin heavy chain and L-type Ca 2+ channel proteins might partly underlie alterations in the time course of contraction and Ca 2+ transients in ventricular myocytes from ZDF rats. There has been a spectacular rise in the global prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus, and the number of cases of diabetes mellitus has reached pandemic proportions and will continue to escalate. The association between type 2 diabetes and obesity is very strong, and cardiovascular disease is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in diabetic patients (Julien, 1997;Zimmet & Alberti, 2006). Clinical and preclinical studies using Doppler imaging, echocardiography, radionuclide angiography and other techniques have demonstrated a variety of diastolic and systolic dysfunctions in type 2 diabetic patients. These haemodynamic abnormalities include reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, impaired myocardial velocity at early diastole, abnormal relaxation during the early filling phase, prolonged isovolumetric relaxation, lower peak systolic and early diastolic velocity, impaired diastolic relaxation and filling and reduced peak filling rate, with the severity of the abnormalities depending on the patients'

1. The pharmacological and kinetic properties of two types of low-voltage-activated (LVA) Ca2+ currents were studied in thalamocortical neurones of the laterodorsal (LD) thalamic nucleus during early postnatal development. The whole-cell patch-clamp technique was used on brain slices from rats of three age groups: 12, 14 and 17 days old (postnatal day (P) 12, P14 and P17 The functional properties of thalamic neurones play a major ventrobasal complex) is mainly due to the expression of lowrole in the organization of rhythmic thalamocortical activity. voltage-activated (LVA) Ca2+ channels in these neurones

Neonatal seizures can result in long-term adverse consequences including alteration of seizure susceptibility and impairment in spatial memory. However, little is known about the effects of neonatal seizures on developmental changes occurring in synaptic transmission during the first postnatal weeks. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of neonatal seizures on several aspects of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic and glutamatergic synaptic transmission in the developing rat hippocampus. Flurothyl was used to induce multiple recurrent seizures in rat pups during the first postnatal days. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings from the hippocampal CA3 pyramidal cell and extracellular recordings from the CA3 pyramidal cell layer were made in slice preparations. In rats that experienced neonatal seizures the amplitude of spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents at P15-17 was decreased by 27% compared with controls, whereas neither frequency nor the kinetic properties were altered. Neonatal seizures did not affect the timing of the developmental switch in the GABAA signaling from excitatory to inhibitory. None of the studied parameters of glutamatergic postsynaptic currents was different between the flurothyl and control groups, including the amplitude and frequency of the spontaneous excitatory postsynaptic currents, the ratio of the amplitudes and frequencies of the alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid (AMPA) and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated spontaneous postsynaptic currents, and the kinetics of AMPA and NMDA mediated postsynaptic currents in the age groups P8-10 and P15-17. We suggest that the selective depression of the amplitude of GABAergic synaptic responses may contribute to the adverse neurological and behavioral consequences that occur following neonatal seizures.