No abstract

The brain's control of movement is thought to involve coordinated activity between cerebellar Purkinje cells. The results reported here demonstrate that somatic Ca imaging is a faithful reporter of Na-dependent "simple spike" pauses and enables us to optically record changes in firing rates in populations of Purkinje cells in brain slices and in vivo. This simultaneous calcium imaging of populations of Purkinje cells reveals a striking spatial organization of pauses in Purkinje cell activity between neighboring cells. The source of this organization is shown to be the presynaptic gamma-Aminobutyric acid producing (GABAergic) network, and blocking ionotropic gamma-Aminobutyric acid receptor (GABARs) abolishes the synchrony. These data suggest that presynaptic interneurons synchronize (in)activity between neighboring Purkinje cells, and thereby maximize their effect on downstream targets in the deep cerebellar nuclei.

Salvia pichinchensis Benth was collected in the South of Ecuador and the essential oil (EO) was distilled from aerial parts and analyzed by GC-MS and GC-FID. The physical properties, chemical composition, and cholinesterase inhibitory activity were determined. Six major components, all sesquiterpenes, were identified: cis-cadina-1(6),4-diene (17.11%) (1), γ-curcumene (13.75%) (2), (E)-caryophyllene (12.58%) (3), (E,E)-α-farnesene (10.00%) (4), α-gurjunene (9.46%) (5) and allo-aromadendrene (6.96%) (6). The EO showed an interesting selective inhibitory activity against the enzyme butyrylcholinesterase (50.70 μg/mL) and only low inhibitory activity against acetylcholinesterase (117.60 μg/mL). The chemical composition and butyrylcholinesterase activity of the EO of S. pichinchensis Benth was reported for first time.