Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Cerebellar long-term depression as investigated in a cell culture preparation
- 2 Cellular mechanisms of long-term depression in the cerebellum
- 3 Long-lasting potentiation of GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission in cerebellar Purkinje cells: Its properties and possible mechanisms
- 4 Nitric oxide and synaptic plasticity: NO news from the cerebellum
- 5 Models of the cerebellum and motor learning
- 6 On climbing fiber signals and their consequence(s)
- 7 Does the cerebellum learn strategies for the optimal time-varying control of joint stiffness?
- 8 On the specific role of the cerebellum in motor learning and cognition: Clues from PET activation and lesion studies in man
- Open Peer Commentary and Authors' Responses
- References
- Index
4 - Nitric oxide and synaptic plasticity: NO news from the cerebellum
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 August 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Cerebellar long-term depression as investigated in a cell culture preparation
- 2 Cellular mechanisms of long-term depression in the cerebellum
- 3 Long-lasting potentiation of GABAergic inhibitory synaptic transmission in cerebellar Purkinje cells: Its properties and possible mechanisms
- 4 Nitric oxide and synaptic plasticity: NO news from the cerebellum
- 5 Models of the cerebellum and motor learning
- 6 On climbing fiber signals and their consequence(s)
- 7 Does the cerebellum learn strategies for the optimal time-varying control of joint stiffness?
- 8 On the specific role of the cerebellum in motor learning and cognition: Clues from PET activation and lesion studies in man
- Open Peer Commentary and Authors' Responses
- References
- Index
Summary
Abstract: Interest in the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the nervous system began with the demonstration that glutamate receptor activation in cerebellar slices causes the formation of a diffusible messenger with properties similar to those of the endothelium-derived relaxing factor. It is now clear that this is due to the Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent activation of the enzyme NO synthase, which forms NO and citrulline from the amino acid L-arginine. The cerebellum has very high levels of NO synthase, and although it has low levels of guanylyl cyclase, cerebellar cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) levels are an order of magnitude higher than in other brain regions. A transcellular metabolic pathway is also present in the cerebellar cortex to recycle citrulline back to arginine. The NO formed binds to and activates soluble guanylyl cyclase to elevate cGMP levels in target cells. Studies employing NADPH-diaphorase, a selective histochemical marker for NO synthase, together with immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization and biochemical studies have indicated that NO production occurs in granule and basket cells in the cerebellar cortex, whereas cGMP formation appears to occur largely in other cells, including Purkinje cells. Given that a long-term depression of AMPA currents can be seen in isolated Purkinje cells, this anatomical localization suggests that NO cannot play an essential role in the induction of this form of synaptic plasticity.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Motor Learning and Synaptic Plasticity in the Cerebellum , pp. 24 - 29Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997