Recent Advances in Basic Neurosciences and Brain Disease: From Synapses to Behavior

Abstract

Understanding basic neuronal mechanisms hold the hope for future treatment of brain disease. The 1st international conference on synapse, memory, drug addiction and pain was held in beautiful downtown Toronto, Canada on August [21][22][23] 2006. Unlike other traditional conferences, this new meeting focused on three major aims: (1) to promote new and cutting edge research in neuroscience; (2) to encourage international information exchange and scientific collaborations; and (3) to provide a platform for active scientists to discuss new findings. Up to 64 investigators presented their recent discoveries, from basic synaptic mechanisms to genes related to human brain disease. This meeting was in part sponsored by Molecular Pain, together with University of Toronto (Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physiology as well as Center for the Study of Pain). Our goal for this meeting is to promote future active scientific collaborations and improve human health through fundamental basic neuroscience researches. The second international meeting on Neurons and Brain Disease will be held in Toronto (August 29-31, 2007).

Synaptic plasticity/dysplasticity, process memory and item memory in rodent models of mental dysfunction

“…Can CBT cause persistent changes in neural circuit function? There is evidence that training experience with potential analogies to CBT is effective in overcoming dysfunction in rodents with cognitive impairments related to mental illness (Bi et al, 2006;Voss et al, 2016;Zhou et al, 2015;Zhu et al, 2014). In particular, we used a model of atypical neurodevelopment, in which postnatal day seven (PD7) Long-Evans rats underwent ventral hippocampal lesions, to evaluate whether early cognitive training could have a beneficial impact on later cognitive abilities (Lee et al, 2012).…”

Patch Clamp: A Powerful Technique for Studying the Mechanism of Acupuncture

“…The surface of the spinal cord was exposed by removal of the pia-arachnoid membrane and was irrigated with oxygenized Krebs solutions at 38°C. In vivo whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings were applied during acupuncture to the SG neurons, which were morphologically identified by injection of neurobiotin [46]. Spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs, V H = 0 mV) and sEPSCs ( V H = − 70 mV) were recorded from the same neurons by altering the holding potentials.…”