Electrophysiological signature of homomeric and heteromeric glycine receptor channels

Glycine receptors are chloride-permeable, ligand-gated ion channels and contribute to the inhibition of neuronal firing in the central nervous system or to facilitation of neurotransmitter release if expressed at presynaptic sites. Recent structure-function studies provided detailed insights into the mechanisms of channel gating, desensitization and ion permeation. However, most of the work focused only on comparing few isoforms; and amongst studies, different cellular expression systems were used. Here, we performed a series of experiments using recombinantly expressed homomeric and heteromeric glycine receptor channels including their splice variants in the same cellular expression system to investigate and compare their electrophysiological properties. Our data show that the current-voltage relationships of channels formed by the {alpha}2 or {alpha}3 subunits change upon receptor desensitization from a linear to an inwardly-rectifying shape, in contrast to their heteromeric counterparts. We demonstrate that inward rectification depends on a single amino acid (A254) at the inner pore mouth of the channels and is closely linked to chloride permeation. We also show that the current-voltage relationships of glycine-evoked currents in primary hippocampal neurons are inwardly-rectifying upon desensitization. Thus, the alanine residue A254 determines voltage-dependent rectification upon receptor desensitization and provides a physio-molecular signature of homomeric glycine receptor channels which provides unprecedented opportunities for the identification of these channels at the single cell level

The violent youth of bright and massive cluster galaxies and their maturation over 7 billion years

In this study, we investigate the formation and evolution mechanisms of the brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) over cosmic time. At high redshift (z ∼ 0.9), we selected BCGs and most massive cluster galaxies (MMCGs) from the Cl1604 supercluster and compared them to low-redshift (z ∼ 0.1) counterparts drawn from the MCXC meta-catalogue, supplemented by Sloan Digital Sky Survey imaging and spectroscopy. We observed striking differences in the morphological, colour, spectral, and stellar mass properties of the BCGs/MMCGs in the two samples. High-redshift BCGs/MMCGs were, in many cases, star-forming, late-type galaxies, with blue broad-band colours, properties largely absent amongst the low-redshift BCGs/MMCGs. The stellar mass of BCGs was found to increase by an average factor of 2.51 ± 0.71 from z ∼ 0.9 to z ∼ 0.1. Through this and other comparisons, we conclude that a combination of major merging (mainly wet or mixed) and in situ star formation are the main mechanisms which build stellar mass in BCGs/MMCGs. The stellar mass growth of the BCGs/MMCGs also appears to grow in lockstep with both the stellar baryonic and total mass of the cluster. Additionally, BCGs/MMCGs were found to grow in size, on average, a factor of ∼3, while their average Sérsic index increased by ∼0.45 from z ∼ 0.9 to z ∼ 0.1, also supporting a scenario involving major merging, though some adiabatic expansion is required. These observational results are compared to both models and simulations to further explore the implications on processes which shape and evolve BCGs/MMCGs over the past ∼7 Gyr

Der Tempel der himmlischen Göttin zu Paphos : zweite Beilage zur Religion der Karthager ; mit 4 Kupfertafeln, und einer architectonischen Erklärung von Gustav Friedrich Hetsch ... / von Friedrich Münter

DER TEMPEL DER HIMMLISCHEN GÖTTIN ZU PAPHOS : ZWEITE BEILAGE ZUR RELIGION DER KARTHAGER ; MIT 4 KUPFERTAFELN, UND EINER ARCHITECTONISCHEN ERKLÄRUNG VON GUSTAV FRIEDRICH HETSCH ... / VON FRIEDRICH MÜNTER Religion der Karthager : mit zwei Kupfertafeln / von Friedrich Münter (-) Der Tempel der himmlischen Göttin zu Paphos : zweite Beilage zur Religion der Karthager ; mit 4 Kupfertafeln, und einer architectonischen Erklärung von Gustav Friedrich Hetsch ... / von Friedrich Münter (Beil. 2) (1) Einband (1) Titelblatt (5) Widmung (7) Einleitung. (9) Erklärung der Kupfertafeln. (38) Illustrationen (49) Fotodokumentation (65

Design of a Water-Soluble Hybrid Nanocomposite of CdTe Quantum Dots and an Iridium Complex for Photoinduced Charge Transfer

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