Neuronal sensors

NADH, 121, 122, 180 Nafion coating, 118, 123, 124, 126 Nanometer electrodes, 116, 128 Nernst equation, 3, 15, 80 Nernstian behavior, 143 Nernst Planck equation, 5 Neuronal sensors, 188 Neurotransmitters, 40, 116, 124 Neutral carrier electrodes, 154 Nickel, 123... 

Abstract This is a short review of how neuronal sensors fit in the broader biological context of animal survival. This may help those involved in the development of engineered sensors to put in perspective their task with what the evolutionary process has achieved. Most of the information reported here is available in the educational field of neuroscience, with mention of some recent relevant findings. I have attempted to place these findings in an evolutionary perspective as it clarifies better the intrinsic role of some of the extraordinary particularities of the biological solutions of neuronal sensors. 

TRPAl has generated considerable excitement because of its restricted expression and unique biology. In particular, TRPAl has been identified as a neuronal sensor of multiple respiratory irritants, including acrolein, cinnamaldehyde, and allyl isothiocyanate (AITC), the active ingredient in mustard oil (Bandell et al. 2004 Jordt et al. 2004). 

A second class of neuronal calcium sensors is formed by the guanylate cyclase-activating protein (GCAP). The GCAPs are expressed only in the photoreceptor cells of the retina of vertebrates. Recoverins and GCAPs have antagonistic roles in phototransduction. 

Burgoyne RD, O Callaghan DW, Hasdemir B et al (2004) Neuronal Ca2+-sensor proteins multitalented regulators of neuronal function. Trends Neurosci 27 203-209... 

The oscillation of membrane current or membrane potential is well-known to occur in biomembranes of neurons and heart cells, and a great number of experimental and theoretical studies on oscillations in biomembranes as well as artificial membranes [1,2] have been carried out from the viewpoint of their biological importance. The oscillation in the membrane system is also related to the sensing and signal transmission of taste and olfaction. Artificial oscillation systems with high sensitivity and selectivity have been pursued in order to develop new sensors [3-8]. 

Many different types of sensory receptors are located throughout the body. These receptors monitor the status of the internal environment or that of the surroundings. Sensory receptors are sensitive to specific types of stimuli and measure the value of a physiological variable. For example, arterial baroreceptors measure blood pressure and chemoreceptors measure the oxygen and carbon dioxide content of the blood. The information detected by these sensors then travels by way of afferent neuronal pathways to the central nervous system (CNS). The CNS is the integrative portion of the nervous system and consists of the (1) brain and the (2) spinal cord. 

Identical olfactory neurons are located in different places in the cavity, and therefore occupy different positions in the flow path. By using a nasal cavity model, we investigated the influence of the dynamic flow on the sensors response14. The responses from identical fiber optic sensors located... 

It has been observed that the IP3-R can be activated in the absence of its ligand, I(1,4,5)P3> by a group of proteins termed Ca2+-binding proteins (CaBPs), a subfamily of E-F hand-containing proteins known as neuronal Ca2+ sensors [17]. These proteins are exclusively expressed in neurons and are particularly enriched in synaptic/dendritic fields. 

Neurofibrillary tangles, aluminum associate with, 36 416-417 Neuromodulin, 46 449 Neuromuscular blocking agents, 36 7 Neuron-specific calcium sensor (NCS) proteins, 46 457... 

Problems like overlapping and interfering of fluorophores is overcome by the BioView sensor, which offers a comprehensive monitoring of the wide spectral range. Multivariate calibration models (e.g., partially least squares (PLS), principal component analysis (PCA), and neuronal networks) are used to filter information out of the huge data base, to combine different regions in the matrix, and to correlate different bioprocess variables with the courses of fluorescence intensities. 

One method to realize the taste sensor may be the utilization of similar materials to biological systems as the transducer. The biological membrane is composed of proteins and lipids. Proteins are main receptors of taste substances. Especially for sour, salty, or bitter substances, the lipid-membrane part is also suggested to be the receptor site [6]. In biological taste reception, taste stimulus changes the receptor potentials of taste cells, which have various characteristics in reception [7,8]. Then the pattern constructed of receptor potentials is translated into the excitation pattern in taste neurons (across-fiber-pattem theory). 

Nanodes (nanoelectrodes) 771 Nanoparticles 802, 809, 817, 943 Nanotubes 802 Native peroxidase 373 Natural water samples el4 Negative feedback 912 Neisseria meningitidis 102 Neomycin 817 Nernst equation 26, 359 Nernstian function 12 Neuronal cell 105 Neurotoxins 311 Neutravidin 808, 817 Newcastle disease virus 107 Nikolskii-Eisenman 31 expression 727 Nitrate reductase 917 sensor 79 Nitric oxide 428... 

In primary cultures of neonatal cerebellar granule neurons, all Ca2+ sensors, calmodulin, protein kinases C (PKC), and the p21(ras)/phosphatidylinositol 3 -kinase (Ptdlns-3K)/Akt pathway, converge towards NF-kB at the levels of nuclear translocation as well as transcription. The duration of NF-kB activation is a critical determinant for sensitivity toward excitotoxic stress and is dependent on the different upstream and downstream signaling associated with various kinases. This is in contrast to studies in non-neuronal cells, which either do not respond to Ca2+ or do not simultaneously activate all three cascades (Lilienbaum and Israel, 2003). Collective evidence suggests that brain inflammatory processes differ from systemic inflammation not only in the involvement of various types of neural cells but also in differences in response to second messengers. 

Bourne, Y., Dannenberg, J., Pollmann, V., Marchot, P., and Pongs, O. (2001). Immunocytochemical localization and crystal structure of human frequenin (neuronal calcium sensor 1). J. Biol. Chem. 276 11949-11955. 

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