[Effect of cytochalasin D on the structure of mixed synapses and their electrotonic conductivity]. / Vliiane tsikhalazina D na strukturu smeshannykh sinapsov i ikh élektrotonicheskuiu provodimost'.

By methods of qualitative and quantitative electronmicroscopy the ultrastructure of mixed synapses of the goldfish Mauthner cell (MC) and their ability to strengthen electrotonic transmission after application of cytochalasin D, a highly specific inhibitor of actin polymerization. On the background of cytochalasin action tetranization of afferent rootlets of acoustic nerve, terminated with mixed synapses on the MC lateral dendrite, failed to induce any long-term potentiation of electronic coupling. On the contrary, a long-term depression of electrotonic transmission was evoked in this case. On the ultrastructureal level such a depression of synaptic conductivity was seen to correlate with a decrease in the number and total length per synaptic apposition of the desmosome-like contacts, known as actin-containing structures, as compared with unstimulated control preparations. In addition, experimental preparations were characterized with unusual quantity of asymmetric desmosome-like contacts, hemidesmosome, whose number during a long-term depression became 4 fold higher than in the control synapses. The data obtained support our recent suggestion on the role of filamentous actin in induction and long-term maintenance of enhanced electrotonic conductivity at mixed synapses.

In vitro long-term potentiation of electrotonic responses of goldfish mauthner cells is accompanied by ultrastructural changes at afferent mixed synapses.

The potentiated afferent mixed synapses of the Mauthner cells of fry and adult goldfish in stumps of the medulla oblongata incubated long-term in vitro were studied by electrophysiological and electron microscopic methods. It was shown that brief high-frequency stimulation of posterior branches of the eighth nerve induced a long-term potentiation of electrotonic transmission at large and small mixed club endings. It was about 135% upon subthreshold stimulation and about 200% upon suprathreshold stimulation. The ultrastructural analysis of ultrathin sections of potentiated mixed synaptic endings revealed an increase in the dimensions of desmosome-like contacts which was proportional to the degree of potentiation, about 135% or 200%, depending on the type of stimulation. The dimensions of gap junctions remained unchanged. The dimensions of active zones at potentiated synapses were reduced two-fold as compared with their unpotentiated counterparts, irrespective of the type of stimulation. Considering that desmosome-like contacts consist predominantly of F-actin, a molecule which possesses electroconductivity, it can be assumed that this cytoskeletal protein is involved in the process of potentiation. The increase in the synapse electrical conductivity can be mediated either directly, by shunting the synaptic junction with polymer actin filaments in the region of desmosome-like contacts, or indirectly, via the interaction of actin with gap junction connections situated nearby.

[Long-term morphofunctional preservation of guinea pig hippocampal slices following short-term treatment with cyclooxygenase inhibitors]. / Dlitel'naia morfofunktsional'naia sokhrannost' srezov gippokampa morskoi svinki posle kratkoi obrabotki ingibitorami tsiklooksigenaz.

Hippocampal slices treated with cyclooxygenase inhibitor indomethacin for three min during the sectioning (45 min) or aspirin (0.5 min) in long term (up to 5 days) preservation in periodic nocturnal hypothermia were studied morphofunctionally using light microscopy and electrophysiological registration of induced population responses of area CAI to stimulation of Schaffers collaterals. Structural disorders were revealed in control slices as early as the third hour of incubation and they were destroyed following the first hypothermal challenge (24 hrs following preparation). The structure in slices treated with blockers remained more stable as compared to control ones and the activity was registered until d 3 (aspirin) and 5 (indomethacin). Morphological changes were not immediately, followed by electric activity decline. On the whole it may be suggested that essential viability increase occurred due to destructive processes inhibition mediated by short living cyclooxygenase metabolites.

Functional stability of hippocampal slices after treatment with cyclooxygenase inhibitors.

The influence of cyclooxygenase inhibitors on functional stability of hippocampal slices, determined by electrophysiological criteria of recovery after slicing and long-term maintainence of population activity, was studied. Transient (3 min) treatment of slices during slicing with indomethacin (45 microM) or aspirin (0.5 mM) allowed registration of the population responses from the second minute. The activity reached 100% after 15 min incubation and could be registrated for 3 days under conditions of overnight hypothermia. The presence of the same drugs for the entire incubation period had the same effect. The present findings suggest that slicing is a crucial point for triggering of pathological events mediated by cyclooxygenase products and that blockade of cyclooxygenase provides for the further high longterm functional stability of brain slices.

Preparation of isolated perfused ground squirrel brain.

This paper describes preparation of the isolated brain of hibernating ground squirrel maintained by intraarterial perfusion. This technique allows a long-term survival (about 3 days) of the isolated brain of adult animals. The preparation viability was assessed by extracellular investigation of stability of structure-specific electrical activity. The areas investigated include neocortex, hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, and brain stem.