Hibernation reduces GABA signaling in the brainstem to enhance motor activity of breathing at cool temperatures.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Neural circuits produce reliable activity patterns despite disturbances in the environment. For this to occur, neurons elicit synaptic plasticity during perturbations. However, recent work suggests that plasticity not only regulates circuit activity during disturbances, but these modifications may also linger to stabilize circuits during future perturbations. The implementation of such a regulation scheme for real-life environmental challenges of animals remains unclear. Amphibians provide insight into this problem in a rather extreme way, as circuits that generate breathing are inactive for several months during underwater hibernation and use compensatory plasticity to promote ventilation upon emergence.

Results

Using ex vivo brainstem preparations and electrophy

SUBMITTER: Saunders SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11533357 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature