|
Vladimir Parpura
 Associate Professor of Cell Biology & Neuroscience
(MD, University of Zagreb, 1989; PhD, Iowa State University, 1993)
Email vlad@ucrac1.ucr.edu
Astrocyte-neuron signaling; modulation of glutamate release from astrocytes; modulation of synaptic transmission.
Our research deals with glia-neuron signaling. Communication between astrocytes, a subtype of glial cells, and neurons is bi-directional. Astrocytes exhibit a form of excitability and communication based on changes in intracellular calcium, which can be initiated by neuronal synaptic activity. These astrocytic calcium variations can cause the release of the excitatory neurotransmitter glutamate, which then signals to adjacent neurons and modulates synaptic transmission. Because the release of glutamate from astrocytes, and the consequential signaling to neurons, is utilized as a physiological signaling pathway, astrocytes could play a role in information processing in the brain. Thus, calcium-dependent release of glutamate from astrocytes could represent an additional site for regulation of synaptic transmission and integration in the central nervous system. We study the role of calcium levels in regulating glutamate release from astrocytes and whether this release can be modulated, by using a combination of flash photolysis, electrophysiology and quantitative fluorescence microscopy.
Representative Publications:
- Parpura, V., Haydon, P.G. (2000). Physiological astrocytic calcium levels stimulate glutamate release to modulate adjacent neurons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 97: 8629-8634.
- Innocenti, B., Parpura, V., Haydon, P.G. (2000). Imaging extracellular waves of glutamate during calcium signaling in cultured astrocytes. J. Neurosci. 20: 1800-1808.
- Araque, A., Parpura, V., Sanzgiri, R.P., Haydon, P.G. (1999). Tripartite synapses: Glia, the unacknowledged partner. Trends Neurosci. 22: 208-215.
- Parpura, V., Haydon, P.G. (1999). UV photolysis using a micromanipulated optical fiber to deliver UV energy directly to the sample. J. Neurosci. Meth. 87: 25-34.
- Araque, A., Sanzgiri, R.P., Parpura, V., Haydon, P.G. (1998). Calcium elevation in astrocytes causes an NMDA receptor-dependent increase in the frequency of miniature synaptic currents in cultured hippocampal neurons. J. Neurosci. 18: 6822-6829.
- Parpura, V., Tong, W., Yeung, E.S., Haydon, P.G. (1998). Laser-Induced Native Fluorescence (LINF) imaging of serotonin depletion in depolarized neurons. J. Neurosci. Meth. 82: 151-
- Araque, A., Parpura, V., Sanzgiri, R.P., Haydon, P.G. (1998). Glutamate-dependent astrocyte modulation of synaptic transmission between cultured hippocampal neurons. Eur. J. Neurosci. 10: 2129-2142.
- Parpura, V., Fernandez J.M. (1996). Atomic Force Microscopy study of the secretory granule lumen. Biophys J. 71: 2356-2366.
- Parpura, V., Fang, Y., Basarsky, T. A., Jahn, R., Haydon, P.G. (1995). Expression of synaptobrevin II, cellubrevin and syntaxin in cultured astrocytes. FEBS Lett. 377:489-492.
- Parpura, V., Liu, F., Jeftinija, K., Haydon, P.G., Jeftinija, S. (1995). Neuroligand-evoked calcium-dependent release of excitatory amino acids from Schwann cells. J. Neurosci. 15: 5831-5839.
- Parpura, V., Liu, F., Brethorst, S., Jeftinija, K., Jeftinija, S., Haydon, P.G. (1995). a- latrotoxin stimulates glutamate release from cortical astrocytes. FEBS Lett., 360: 266-270.
- Basarsky, T.A., Parpura, V., Haydon, P. G. (1994). Hippocampal synaptogenesis in cell culture: Developmental time course of synapse formation, calcium influx and synaptic protein distribution. J. Neurosci. 14: 6402-6411.
- Parpura, V., Basarsky, T.A., Liu, F., Jeftinija, K., Jeftinija, S., Haydon, P. G. (1994). Glutamate-mediated astrocyte-neuron signalling. Nature 369: 744-747.
|
|
|
|
