TY  - JOUR
AU  - Gui, Kai
AU  - Pan, Shudi
AU  - Thurman, Michellie
PY  - 2015/12/21
TI  -  Inhibiting cGMP and elevating NO levels do not affect post-tetanic potentiation at the crayfish neuromuscular junction
JF  - Pioneering Neuroscience; Vol 15 (2015)
KW  - 
N2  - Nitric oxide (NO) acts as a retrograde messenger in the central nervous system, and previous research has found it to both depress and facilitate synaptic transmission in synapses. However, this discrepancy leaves the role of NO unclear, specifically in the crayfish neuromuscular junction (NMJ). In an attempt to clarify NO’s role, we studied its effect on synaptic plasticity, the strengthening or weakening of synapses over time based on their reactivity, in the crayfish NMJ. Additionally, we studied the role of cGMP, an element of the NO-cGMP pathway, on synaptic plasticity. We applied ODQ, a cGMP inhibitor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), an NO donor, and a combination of the two drugs to determine whether or not NO has a role in synaptic plasticity independent of the NO-cGMP pathway. We hypothesized that ODQ, would decrease percent change in excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in long-term facilitation (LTF) or long-term depression (LTD), while increasing NO concentration would increase percent change in EPSPs in LTF or LTD, and increasing NO levels while inhibiting cGMP would decrease percent change in EPSPs in LTF or LTD. We compared the control conditions with the experimental conditions and found no significant difference in the percent change of EPSPs in any of the comparisons. Therefore, we cannot confirm the role of the NO-cGMP in synaptic plasticity.
UR  - https://ojs.grinnell.edu/index.php/pnsj/article/view/239