Kainate receptors are members of the glutamate receptor family that regulate synaptic function in the brain. They modulate synaptic transmission and the excitability of neurons; however, their contributions to neural circuits that underlie behavior are unclear. To understand the net impact of kainate receptor signaling, we generated knockout mice in which all five kainate receptor subunits were ablated (5ko). These mice displayed compulsive and perseverative behaviors, including over-grooming, as well as motor problems, indicative of alterations in striatal circuits. There were deficits in corticostriatal input to spiny projection neurons (SPNs) in the dorsal striatum and correlated reductions in spine density. The behavioral alterations were not present in mice only lacking the primary receptor subunit expressed in adult striatum (GluK2 KO), suggesting that signaling through multiple receptor types is required for proper striatal function. This demonstrates that alterations in striatal function dominate the behavioral phenotype in mice without kainate receptors.
Pubmed ID: 28228252 RIS Download
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A software application which allows reconstruction of neuronal structures from confocal and multi-photon images. NeuronStudio provides tools for manual, semi-manual, and automatic tracing of the dendritic arbor, as well as manual and automatic detection and classification of dendritic spines. Advanced 2D and 3D visualization techniques facilitate the verification of the reconstruction, as well as allowing accurate manual editing. The most current version is Version 0.9.92 which was last updated on November 19, 2009.
View all literature mentionsSoftware application with data analysis tools and spreadsheet templates to track and visualize data. It is used to manage and process data.
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