Imbalance of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate and of the inhibitory neurotransmitter
GABA is one of several causes of seizures. ATP has also been implicated in epilepsy …

Sensory epithelia of the inner ear contain two major cell types: hair cells and supporting
cells. It has been clear for a long time that hair cells play critical roles in mechanoreception …

Inflammasomes are multimeric protein complex that assemble in the cytosol upon microbial
infection or cellular stress. Upon activation, inflammasomes drive the maturation of …

Defining the pathways through which neurons and astrocytes communicate may contribute
to the elucidation of higher central nervous system functions. We investigated the possibility …

The hindbrain transcription factors Phox2b and Egr2 (also known as Krox20) are linked to
the development of the autonomic nervous system and rhombomere-related regulation of …

Over the past several decades a large amount of data have established that glial cells, the
main cell population in the brain, dynamically interact with neurons and thus impact their …

Connexin mimetic peptides (CxMPs), such as Gap26 and Gap27, are known as inhibitors of
gap junction channels but evidence is accruing that these peptides also inhibit …

In the mammalian cochlea, acoustic information is carried to the brain by the predominant
(95%) large-diameter, myelinated type I afferents, each of which is postsynaptic to a single …

Pannexins form channels at the plasma membrane surface that establish a pathway for
communication between the cytosol of individual cells and their extracellular environment …

Adenosine 5′-triphosphate, or ATP, is the primary molecule for storing and transferring
energy in cells. ATP is mainly produced via oxidative phosphorylation in mitochondria, and …