Neuronal Glutamatergic Synaptic Clefts Alkalinize Rather Than Acidify during Neurotransmission
by Lynda F. Rysavy | Monday, Mar 09, 2020
Gregory Macleod, an associate professor of biology in FAU’s Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and the College of Science, and collaborators, used fluorescent reporters to investigate the acid/base balance in between nerve cells as they communicate with each other.
Researchers discovered that contrary to expectations, the cleft between nerve cells alkalinizes, which has profound implications for the way in which the brain makes computations.
Results of the study were recently published in the
Journal of Neuroscience. The research is funded by a five-year National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awarded to McLeod.