Epilepsy is a common and serious neurologic disease with a strong genetic component.
Genetic studies have identified an increasing collection of disease-causing genes. The …

Developmental periods such as gestation and adolescence have enhanced plasticity
leaving the brain vulnerable to harmful effects from nicotine use. Proper brain maturation …

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) regulate critical aspects of brain maturation
during the prenatal, early postnatal, and adolescent periods. During these developmental …

There is a growing body of evidence linking maternal overnutrition to obesity and
psychopathology that can be conserved across multiple generations. Recently, we …

Preclinical studies, using primarily rodent models, have shown acetylcholine to have a
critical role in brain maturation via activation of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), a …

Despite recent advances in understanding the causes of epilepsy, especially the genetic,
comprehending the biological mechanisms that lead to the epileptic phenotype remains …

It is just over a decade since the discovery of the first human epilepsy associated ion
channel gene mutation. Since then mutations in at least 25 different genes have been …

Tobacco smoking is one of the leading causes of disease and premature death in the United
States. Nicotine is considered the major reinforcing component in tobacco smoke …

Homomeric α7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are abundantly expressed in the
central and peripheral nervous system (CNS and PNS, respectively), and spinal cord. In …

The interactions between the striatal cholinergic and GABAergic systems are crucial in
shaping reward-related behavior and reinforcement learning; however, the synaptic …