• Applied Microscopy
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.32-40
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• 1994

This study was undertaken to study the morphological changes of rat synapses during early postnatal periods. Neonatal rats were grouped by 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 6th postnatal weeks, and we observed the ultrastructural pattern of the synapses in the external plexiform layer of olfactory bulbs by electron microscopy. The results were as follows; 1. The numbers of synapses, lengths of synaptic thickenings and amounts of synaptic vesicles were markedly increased in the external plexiform layer during four postnatal weeks. 2. There was a tendency of increasing the proportion of the asymmetric synapse and the curved synapses during maturation. From the above results, it is suggested that the size of synapse is increasing during maturation, and at the same time the asymmetric synapses are formed from the symmetric type and the curved synapses are from the plane type.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.5 no.6
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• pp.457-466
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• 2001

Glutamate is the most common excitatory amino acid in the brain. Responsiveness of dendrites to the glutamate greatly varies depending on the application sites. Especially, a point of the maximal response to the glutamate of the dendrite is called as 'hot spot'. In our experiment, the responsiveness of the hot spot to the glutamate was investigated in the CA1 pyramidal neuron of the rat hippocampal slice. CNQX, the antagonist of AMPA receptor, blocked 95% of membrane current to the glutamate focal application $(I_{gl}).$ Train ejection of glutamate on one point of the dendrite increased or decreased the amplitude of $I_{gl}$ with the pattern of train, and the changes were maintained at least for 30 min. In some cases, glutamate train ejection also induced calcium dependent action potentials. To evoke long-term change of synaptic plasticity, we adopted ${\theta}-burst$ in the glutamate train ejection. The ${\theta}-burst$ decreased the amplitude of glutamate response by 60%. However, after ${\theta}-burst$ glutamate train ejection, the calcium dependent action potential appeared. These results indicated that the focal application of glutamate on the neuronal dendrite induced response similar to the synaptic transmission and the trains of glutamate ejection modulated the change of AMPA receptor.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.533-540
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• 2013

Purpose: To investigate the synaptic pattern of NMDA glutamate receptor subtype NMDA R1 on the dendritic arbors of ON-OFF direction-selective retinal ganglion cells (DS-RGSs) in developing [(5,10) days postnatal (PN)] mouse retina. Methods: ON-OFF DS-RGCs were injected with Lucifer yellow and the cells were identified by their characteristic morphology. To identify glutamatergic excitatory input from bipolar cell, we used a marker for the membrane traffic motor protein kinesin. Results: We identified DS-RGCs in P5, and P10 mouse retina. The immunofluorescence labeling of NMDA R1 was most prominent in the IPL. Our results showed that their presence upon the entire dendritic arbor of ON-OFF DS-RGCs is without any evidence of asymmetry, which would predict direction selectivity. Conclusions: The glutamatergic input from bipolar cell reveals symmetry pattern in all periods of P5, and P10. The results may suggest that direction selectivity not lies in the specific pattern of NMDA R1 receptors.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.297-305
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• 1998

This study used in vivo intracellular recording in rat hippocampus to evaluate the effect of lidocaine and MK-801 on the membrane properties and the synaptic responses of individual neurons to electrical stimulation of the commissural pathway. Cells in control group typically fired in a tonic discharge mode with an average firing frequency of $2.4{\pm}0.9$ Hz. Neuron in MK-801 treated group (0.2 mg/kg, i.p.) had an average input resistance of $3.28{\pm}5.7\;M{\Omega}$ and a membrane time constant of $7.4{\pm}1.8$ ms. These neurons exhibited $2.4{\pm}0.2$ ms spike durations, which were similar to the average spike duration recorded in the neurons of the control group. Slightly less than half of these neurons were firing spontaneously with an average discharge rate of $2.4{\pm}1.1$ Hz. The average peak amplitude of the AHP following the spikes in these groups was $7.4{\pm}0.6$ mV with respect to the resting membrane potential. Cells in MK-801 and lidocaine treated group (5 mg/kg, i.c.v.) had an average input resistance of $3.45{\pm}6.0\;M{\Omega}$ and an average time constant of $8.0{\pm}1.4$ ms. The cells were firing spontaneously at an average discharge rate of $0.6{\pm}0.4$ Hz. Upon depolarization of the membrane by 0.8 nA for 400 ms, all of the tested cells exhibited accommodation of spike discharge. The most common synaptic response contained an EPSP followed by early-IPSP and late-IPSP. Analysis of the voltage dependence revealed that the early-IPSP and late-IPSP were putative $Cl^--and\;K^+-dependent$, respectively. Systemic injection of the NMDA receptor blocker, MK-801, did not block synaptic responses to the stimulation of the commissural pathway. No significant modifications of EPSP, early-IPSP, or late-IPSP components were detected in the MK-801 and/or lidocaine treated group. These results suggest that MK-801 and lidocaine manifest their CNS effects through firing pattern of hippocampal pyramidal cells and neural network pattern by changing the synaptic efficacy and cellular membrane properties.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics B
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• v.31B no.9
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• pp.159-165
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• 1994

In this paper, we propose a multi-layer associative neural network structure suitable for hardware implementaion with the function of performance refinement and improved robutst capability. Unlike other methods which reduce network complexity by putting restrictions on synaptic weithts, we are imposing a requirement of hidden layer neurons for the function. The proposed network has synaptic weights obtainted by Hebbian rule between adjacent layer's memory patterns such as Kosko's BAM. This network can be extended to arbitary multi-layer network trainable with Genetic algorithm for getting hidden layer memory patterns starting with initial random binary patterns. Learning is done to minimize newly defined network error. The newly defined error is composed of the errors at input, hidden, and output layers. After learning, we have bidirectional recall process for performance improvement of the network with one-shot recall. Experimental results carried out on pattern recognition problems demonstrate its performace according to the parameter which represets relative significance of the hidden layer error over the sum of input and output layer errors, show that the proposed model has much better performance than that of Kosko's bidirectional associative memory (BAM), and show the performance increment due to the bidirectionality in recall process.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.1-8
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• 1995

This study was performed to analyze the morphological changes of synapses during early postnatal periods. Neonatal rats were grouped by 3, 7, 14, 21, 28 and 42day old, and observed the ultrastructural pattern of the synapses in the neostriatum by transmission electron microscope. 1. The number of synapse, the length of postsynaptic thickening and the amount of synaptic vesicles markedly increase during postnatal development 2. The proportion of asymmetric and curved synapses gradually increase by developmental periods. From the above results, it is suggested that the size of synapse increase during post-natal period, and asymmetric synapse are formed from the symmetric type and curved synapse are formed from the plane type.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.102-109
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• 2011

The genioglossus muscle plays an important role in maintaining upper airway patency during inspiration; if this muscle does not contract normally, breathing disorders occur due to closing of the upper airway. These occur because of disorders of synaptic input to the genioglossus motoneurons, however, little is known about it. In this study, the distribution of GABA-, glycine-, and glutamate-like immunoreactivity in axon terminals on dendrites of the rat genioglossus motoneurons, stained intracellularly with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), was examined by using postembedding immunogold histochemistry in serial ultrathin sections. The motoneurons were divided into four compartments: the soma, and primary (Pd), intermediate (Id), and distal dendrites (Dd). Quantitative analysis of 157, 188, 181, and 96 boutons synapsing on 3 soma, 14 Pd, 35 Id, and 28 Dd, respectively, was performed. 71.9% of the total number of studied boutons had immunoreactivity for at least one of the three amino acids. 32.8% of the total number of studied boutons were immunopositive for GABA and/or glycine and 39.1% for glutamate. Among the former, 14.2% showed glycine immunoreactivity only and 13.3% were immunoreactive to both glycine and GABA. The remainder (5.3%) showed immunoreactivity for GABA only. Most boutons immunoreactive to inhibitory amino acids contained a mixture of flattened, oval, and round synaptic vesicles. Most boutons immunoreactive to excitatory amino acids contained clear and spherical synaptic vesicles with a few dense-cored vesicles. When comparisons of the inhibitory and excitatory boutons were made between the soma and three dendritic segments, the proportion of the inhibitory to the excitatory boutons was high in the Dd (23.9% vs. 43.8%) but somewhat low in the soma (35.7% vs. 38.2%), Pd (34.6% vs. 37.8%) and Id (33.1% vs. 38.7%). The percentage of synaptic covering of the inhibitory synaptic boutons decreased in the order of soma, Pd, Id, and Dd, but this trend was not applicable to the excitatory boutons. The present study provides possible evidence that the spatial distribution patterns of inhibitory and excitatory synapses are different in the soma and dendritic tree of the rat genioglussus motoneurons.

• Maxillofacial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.281-301
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• 1993

It was revealed that the morphology and projection pattern of terminal arbors from single primary afferent are different among distinct fiber types, functional types and the different subdivision of trigeminal sensory nucleus complex(TSNC). But it was not identified the ultrastructural morphology and synaptic connections of terminal arbors from each primary afferent within TSNC. So we employed the intra-axonal horseradish peroxidase(HRP) injection technique to define the terminal arbors of primary afferent fiber from slowly adapting mechanoreceptors in the periodontal ligament of the cat, and examined 66 labeled terminal arbors within the rostrodorsomedial part(Vo.r) of the trigeminal nucleus oralis, electromicroscopically with 90nm serial sections. All the boutons labelled with HRP contained clear, spherical and uniform sized synaptic vesicles(diameter : $47.66{\pm}3.58nm$ ). Most of the labelled boutons were boutons en passant type and they were connected by unmyelinated axonal strand. In which neurofilament and microtubule was not developed but occasionally contained synaptic vesicle in contrast to the myelinated axon. The size of the labelled bouton was relatively small(long diameter : $1.46{\pm}0.24{\mu}m$, short diameter $0.85{\pm}0.26{\mu}m$, average diameter $1.15{\pm}0.24{\mu}m$) and the shape of which varied from dome to elongated shape, but scalloped glomerulus shape was not developed. Each primary ending in Vo.r made synapse with one or two neuronal propiles(average : $1.11{\pm}0.31$), of which, 89.4% of labelled boutons made synapse with only one neuronal pro pile, the remainder, 10.6% of labelled boutons, made synapse with two neuronal propile. So characteristically they made very simple synapse. Most of labelled boutons(80.03%) made asymmetrical synapse only with dendritic shaft or spine, and 6.1% of labelled boutons received symmetrical synapse from pleomorphic vesicle containing axonal ending(p-ending). So presynaptic inhibiton was relatively scarce. Synaptic triad, in which a p-ending is presynaptic both pre-and post-synaptic element of the axo-dendritic contact from the labelled primary ending was not observed.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.326-335
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• 1996

Background: Though a number of studies have described the distribution of substance P(SP)-like immunoreactivity in the spinal cord, they have been focused on lamina I and II of the dorsal horn and there are little morphological studies on the topographic distribution and ultrastructure of the SP immunoreactive neurons especially in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. this study was conducted to identify distribution pattern of SP immunoreactive neurons and to difine the synaptic organization of their processes in ventral horn of the thoracic cord of the cat by preembbeding immunocytochemical method using SP antiserum. Methods: Five adults cats of either sex were used and deeply anesthetized by intramuscular injection of ketamine. After removal of the spinal cord, samples of thoracic cord were taken and placed in fresh fixative at $4^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours. Transverse sections $50{\mu}m$ thick were processed using the preembbeding immunocytochemical method and incubated consecutively in the specific primary antibody and the 10% normal goat serum, the rabbit anti-substance P antiserum, the biotin-labelled goat anti-rabbit IgG and finally the avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex. The processed tissue sections were throughly washed and stained in the black with 1% uranyl acetate. Section were examined on a electron microscope. Results: 1) SP immunoreactive neurons were observed in the gray matter around central canal. 2) In lamina I and II SP immunoreactivity was observed in both myelinated and unmyelinated nerve fibers, but in ventral horn only in the unmyelinated nerve fibers. 3) SP immunoreactive axon terminals with small round and large dense core vesicles made chemical synapses onto the dendrites of motor neurons in the ventral horn. Conclusion: SP immunoreactive neurons might play an important role in modulation of motor neurons in the ventral horn of the thoracic cord of the cat.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics C
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• v.36C no.5
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• pp.76-85
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• 1999

The intuitive understanding of the dynamic pattern generation in asymmetric networks may be useful for developing models of dynamic information processing. In this paper, dynamic behavior of the cyclic connection neural network, in which each neuron is connected only to its nearest neurons with binary synaptic weights of $\pm$ 1, has been investigated. Simulation results show that dynamic behavior of the network can be classified into only three categories: fixed points, limit cycles with basin and limit cycles with no basin. Furthermore, the number and the type of limit cycles generated by the networks have been derived through analytical method. The sufficient conditions for a state vector of $n$-neuron network to produce a limit cycle of $n$- or 2$n$-period are also given. The results show that the estimated number of limit cycles is an exponential function of $n$. On the basis of this study, cyclic connection neural network may be capable of storing a large number of dynamic information.