The commensal microbiota is in constant interaction with the immune system, teaching immune cells to respond to antigens. Studies in mice have demonstrated that manipulation of the intestinal microbiota alters host immune cell homeostasis. Additionally, metagenomic-sequencing analysis has revealed alterations in intestinal microbiota in patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, and obesity. Perturbations in the microbiota composition result in a deficient immune response and impaired tolerance to commensal microorganisms. Due to altered microbiota composition which is associated to some inflammatory diseases, several strategies, such as the administration of probiotics, diet, and antibiotic usage, have been utilized to prevent or ameliorate chronic inflammatory diseases. The purpose of this review is to present and discuss recent evidence showing that the gut microbiota controls immune system function and onset, development, and resolution of some common inflammatory diseases.

Influenza A and B viruses contain proton-selective ion channels, A/M2 and BM2, respectively, and the A/M2 channel activity is inhibited by the drugs amantadine and its methyl derivative rimantadine. The structure of the pore-transmembrane domain has been determined by both x-ray crystallography [Stouffer et al. (2008) Nature 451:596–599] and by NMR methods [Schnell and Chou (2008) Nature 451:591–595]. Whereas the crystal structure indicates a single amantadine molecule in the pore of the channel, the NMR data show four rimantadine molecules bound on the outside of the helices toward the cytoplasmic side of the membrane. Drug binding includes interactions with residues 40–45 with a polar hydrogen bond between rimantadine and aspartic acid residue 44 (D44) that appears to be important. These two distinct drug-binding sites led to two incompatible drug inhibition mechanisms. We mutagenized D44 and R45 to alanine as these mutations are likely to interfere with rimantadine binding and lead to a drug insensitive channel. However, the D44A channel was found to be sensitive to amantadine when measured by electrophysiological recordings in oocytes of Xenopus laevis and in mammalian cells, and when the D44 and R45 mutations were introduced into the influenza virus genome. Furthermore, transplanting A/M2 pore residues 24–36 into BM2, yielded a pH-activated chimeric ion channel that was partially inhibited by amantadine. Thus, taken together our functional data suggest that amantadine/rimantadine binding outside of the channel pore is not the primary site associated with the pharmacological inhibition of the A/M2 ion channel.

Estrogen and ovarian function decline are relevant characteristics of menopause period. Numerous physiological, metabolic and immunological alterations in the female body occur in the menopause period and some of these changes remain uncertain. The animal model that mimics menopause phase is an important approach to better comprehend the biological process involved in this period of women life. Ovariectomy is a procedure where ovaries are surgically excised and have been a valuable tool for understanding estrogen deficiency through animal experiments. Despite the diversity of ovariectomy protocols, the aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive guideline in performing ovariectomy in mice. Furthermore, isoflurane anesthesia system, postoperative care and surgery success evaluation will be described. We highlight that all procedures must be carried out by a qualified and trained professional, respecting ethical and safety principles.

Learning is known to cause alterations in intrinsic cellular excitability but, to date, these changes have been seen only after multiple training trials. A powerful learning task that can be quickly acquired and extinguished with a single trial is fear conditioning. Rats were trained and extinguished on a hippocampus-dependent form of fear conditioning to determine whether learning-related changes in intrinsic excitability could be observed after a few training trials and a single extinction trial. Following fear training, hippocampal slices were made and intrinsic excitability was assayed via whole cell recordings from CA1 neurons. Alterations in intrinsic excitability, assayed by the postburst afterhyperpolarization and firing frequency accommodation, were observed after only three trials of contextual or trace-cued fear conditioning. Animals that had been trained in contextual and trace-cued fear were then extinguished. Context fear-conditioned animals extinguished in a single trial and the changes in intrinsic excitability were reversed. Trace-cue conditioned animals only partially extinguished in a single trial and reductions in excitability remained. Thus a single learning experience is sufficient to alter intrinsic excitability. This dramatically extends observations of learning-specific changes in intrinsic neuronal excitability previously observed in paradigms requiring many training trials, suggesting the excitability changes have a basic role in acquiring new information.

Altered neuronal calcium homeostasis is widely hypothesized to underlie cognitive deficits in normal aging subjects, but the mechanisms that underlie this change are unknown, possibly due to a paucity of direct measurements from aging neurons. Using CCD and two-photon calcium imaging techniques on CA1 pyramidal neurons from young and aged rats, we show that calcium influx across the plasma membrane increases with aging, and that this change is countered by increased intracellular calcium buffering. The additional buffer in aging neurons balances the increased calcium influx following a small number (<3) action potentials, but is overwhelmed during sustained or theta-like activity which leads to a greater rise in intracellular calcium concentration in aging than that in young neurons. Our results demonstrate that calcium overload occurs regularly in aging CA1 pyramidal neurons under physiological conditions. This overload may be a critical factor in age-related decline in hippocampus-dependent cognitive function.