Simon Alford
Professor of Biological Sciences

Publications

Roberts, A. & Alford, S. T. (1986). Descending projections and excitation during fictive swimming in xenopus embryos: neuroanatomy and lesion experiments. J.Comp.Neurol. 250, 253-261. pubmed

Alford, S. & Williams, T. L. (1987). Inhibitory synaptic input to edge cells during fictive locomotion. Brain Res. 409, 139-142. pubmed

Davies, S.N., Alford, S.T., Coan, E.J., Lester, R.A.J. and Collingridge, G.L. (1988) Ketamine blocks an NMDA receptor-mediated component of synaptic transmission in rat hippocampus in a voltage-dependent manner. Neurosci. Lett. 92; 213-217. pubmed

Alford, S. and Williams, T.L. (1989) Endogenous activation of glycine- and NMDA- receptors in lamprey spinal cord during fictive locomotion. J. Neurosci. 9; 2792-2800. pubmed

Alford, S. and Sigvardt, K.A. (1989) Excitatory neurotransmission activates voltage-dependent properties in neurons in spinal motor system of lamprey. J. Neurophysiol. 62; 334-341. pubmed

Alford, S., Sigvardt, K.A. and Williams, T.L. (1990) GABAergic control of rhythmic activity in the presence of strychnine in the lamprey spinal cord. Brain Res. 506; 303-306. pubmed

Alford, S. and Grillner, S. (1990) CNQX and DNQX block non-NMDA synaptic transmission but not NMDA-evoked locomotion in lamprey spinal cord. Brain Res. 506; 297-302. pubmed

Alford, S., Williams, T.L. and Sigvardt, K.A. (1990) Effects of bicuculline and strychnine on synaptic inputs to edge cells during fictive locomotion. Brain Res. 509; 137-140. pubmed

Bashir, Z.I., Alford, S.T., Blake, J.F., Frenguelli, B.G., Davies, S.N., Reymann, K.G., Collingridge, G.L. (1991) On the locus of the maintenance of LTP in area CA1 of rat hippocampus. In: Long-term Potentiation. Eds. M. Baudry and J. Davis. M.I.T. Press, Cambridge MA.

Alford, S. and Collingridge, G.L. (1991) From excitatory amino-acid receptors to long-term potentiation; an insight into the role of Ca2+. In: Excitatory amino-acids and second messenger systems. Eds Teichberg, V.I. and Turski, L. Springer Verlag, pp 43-53

Alford, S., Christenson, J. and Grillner, S. (1991) Presynaptic GABAA and GABAB receptor-mediated phasic modulation in axons of spinal motor interneurones. Eur. J. Neurosci. 3:107-117. pubmed

Bashir, Z.I. Alford, S. Davies, S.N. Randall, A.D. and Collingridge, G.L. (1991) Long term potentiation of NMDA receptor-mediated synaptic transmission in the hippocampus. Nature 349;156-158. pubmed

Alford, S. and Grillner, S. (1991) The involvement of GABAB receptors and coupled G-proteins in spinal GABAergic presynaptic inhibition. J. Neurosci. 11:3718-3726. pubmed

Christenson, J., Alford, S., Grillner, S. and Hokfelt, T. (1992) Colocalised GABA and somatostatin use different ionic mechanisms to hyperpolarize target neurons in the lamprey spinal cord. Neurosci. Lett. 134:93-97 pubmed

Collingridge, G.L., Randall, A.D., Davies, C.H., Bashir, Z.I., Alford, S. Bortolotto, Z.A. Harvey, J. and Frenguelli, B.G. (1992) Roles of excitatory amino acid receptors in hippocampal synaptic transmission. In: Hippocampal synaptic transmission.

Collingridge, G. L., Randall, A. D., Davies, C. H. & Alford, S. (1992) The synaptic activation of NMDA receptors and Ca2+ signalling in neurons. Ciba Foundation Symposium 164:162-171. pubmed

Alford,S., Frenguelli, B.G., Schofield, J.G. and Collingridge, G.L. (1993) Characterization of Ca2+ signals induced in hippocampal CA1 neurones by the synaptic activation of NMDA receptors. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 469:693-716 pubmed

Alford, S. and Dubuc, R. (1993) Glutamate metabotropic receptor mediated depression of synaptic inputs to lamprey reticulospinal neurones. Brain Res. 605:175-179. pubmed

Frenguelli, B.G., Potier, B., Slater, N.T., Alford, S & Collingridge, G.L. (1993). Metabotropic glutamate receptors and calcium signalling in dendrites of hippocampal CA1 neurones. Neuropharmacology 32;1229-1237 pubmed

Alford, S. & Brodin, L. (1994) The role of NMDA receptors in synaptic integration and the organisation of motor patterns. In The NMDA Receptor (eds. J.C. Watkins and G.L. Collingridge) Volume 2. Oxford University Press, pp. 275-291.

Glaum, S.R., Alford, S., Rossi, D.J., Collingridge, G.L. and N.T. Slater (1994). Whole-Cell Recording with Simultaneous Measurement of Intracellular Calcium Concentration in Mammalian Brain Slices In Vitro. In Methods in Neurosciences (P.M. Conn, ed.), Vol. 19, Ion Channels of Excitable Cells (T. Narahasi, ed.), Academic Press, pp. 340-358.

Silinsky, E.M., Watanabe, M., Redman, R.S., Qiu, R., Hirsh, J.K., Hunt, J.M., Solsona, C.S., Alford, S. and MacDonald, R.C. (1995) Neurotransmitter release evoked by nerve impulses without Ca2+ entry through Ca2+ channels in frog motor nerve endings. J. Physiol. (Lond.) 482;511-520 pubmed

Rossi, D.J., Alford, S., Mugnaini, E. and Slater, N.T. (1995) Properties of transmission at a giant glutamatergic synapse in cerebellum mossy fiber-unipolar brush cell synapse. J. Neurophysiol. . 74; 24-42. pubmed

Alford, S., Zompa, I. and Dubuc, R. (1995) Long-term potentiation of glutamatergic pathways in the lamprey brainstem. J. Neurosci. 15;7528-7538. pubmed

Cochilla, A.J. and Alford, S. (1997) Glutamate receptor mediated synaptic excitation in axons of the lamprey. J. Physiol. (Lond.). 499;443-457. pubmed

Schwartz, N.E. and Alford, S. (1998) Modulation of pre- and postsynaptic calcium dynamics by ionotropic glutamate receptors at a plastic synapse. J. Neurophysiol. 79:2191-2203. pubmed

Cochilla, A.J. and Alford, S. (1998) Metabotropic glutamate receptor-mediated control of neurotransmitter release. Neuron. 20:1007-1016 pubmed

Chittajallu R, Alford S, Collingridge GL (1998) Ca2+ and synaptic plasticity.Cell Calcium 24:377-85. pubmed

Cochilla, A.J. and Alford, S (1999) NMDA receptor-mediated cotrol of presynaptic calcium and neurotransmitter release. J. Neuroscience 19:193-205. pubmed

Kay AR, Alfonso A, Alford S, Cline HT, Holgado AM, Sakmann B, Snitsarev VA, Stricker TP, Takahashi M, Wu LG (1999) Imaging synaptic activity in intact brain and slices with FM1-43 in C. elegans, lamprey, and rat. Neuron 24:809-17 pubmed

McCrimmon DR, Ramirez JM, Alford S, Zuperku EJ (2000) Unraveling the mechanism for respiratory rhythm generation.Bioessays 22:6-9 pubmed

Reger B. D. Fleming K. M. Sanguineti V. Alford S. Mussa-Ivaldi F. A. (2000) Connecting Brains to Robots: An Artificial Body for Studying the Computational Properties of Neural Tissues. Artificial Life 6:307-324 pubmed

Schwartz, N.E., Alford, S. (2000) Physiological activation of presynaptic glutamate metabotropic receptors increases intracellular calcium and glutamate release. J. Neurophysiol 84:415-427. pubmed

Takahashi, M., Freed, R., Blackmer, T., Alford, S. (2001). Calcium influx independent depression of transmitter release by 5-HT at lamprey spinal cord synapses. J. Physiol., 532:323-336. pubmed

Blackmer, T., Larsen, E., Takahashi, M., Martin, T. F. J., Alford, S., Hamm, H. E. (2001) Heterotrimeric G protein Gbg subunits mediate presynaptic inhibition by regulating exocytotic fusion downstream of Ca2+ entry. Science, 292:293-297 pubmed

Takahashi, M. and Alford, S (2002) The requirement of presynaptic metabotropic glutamate receptors for the maintenance of locomotion Journal of Neuroscience 22:3673-3682 pubmed

Karniel, A., Fleming, K. M., Sanguinetti, V., Alford, S. T., and Mussa-Ivaldi, F. A. (2002) “Dynamic properties of the lamprey's neuronal circuits as it drives a two-wheeled robot”, Proceeding of the SAB'2002 Workshop on Motor Control in Humans and Robots. Edinburgh, Scotland , U.K.

Alford S.; Schwartz E.; Viana Di Prisco G.. (2003) The Pharmacology of Vertebrate Spinal Central Pattern Generators. The Neuroscientist 9:217-228. pubmed

Blackmer, T., and Alford, S. (2003) Regulation of synaptic fusion by heterotrimeric G proteins. In: Handbook of Cell Signaling, Volume 2 ed RA. Bradshaw and EA. Dennis, Academic Press, San Diego Ch 230 pp 663-666.

Kositsky M, Karniel A, Alford S, Fleming KM, Mussa-Ivaldi FA (2003) Dynamical dimension of a hybrid neurorobotic system IEEE transactions on neural systems and rehabilitation engineering 11: 155-159 pubmed

Viana Di Prisco, G. and Alford, S. (2004) Quantitative investigation of calcium signals for locomotor pattern generation in the lamprey spinal cord. J. Neurophysiol. 92:1796-806 pubmed

Schwartz, E., Gerachshenko, T. and Alford S. (2005) 5-HT Prolongs Ventral Root Bursting via Presynaptic Inhibition of Synaptic Activity During Fictive Locomotion in Lamprey. . J. Neurophysiol 93: 980-988. pubmed

Blackmer T, Larsen EC, Bartleson C, Kowalchyk JA, Yoon E-J, Preininger AM, Alford S, Hamm HE, Martin TFJ. (2005) G protein bg directly regulates SNARE protein fusion machinery for secretory granule exocytosis. Nature Neuroscience 8: 421-425 pubmed

Gerachshenko T, Blackmer T, Yoon EJ, Bartleson C, Hamm HE, Alford S. (2005) Gbg acts at the C terminus of SNAP-25 to mediate presynaptic inhibition. Nature Neuroscience 8: 597-605. pubmed

Karniel A, Kositsky M, Fleming KM, Chiappalone M, Sanguineti V, Alford ST, Mussa-Ivaldi FA. (2005) Computational Analysis in Vitro: Dynamics and Plasticity of a Neuro-Robotic System J. Neural Eng. 2:S250-265 pubmed

Photowala H, Freed R, Alford S. (2005) Location and function of vesicle clusters, active zones and Ca2+ channels in the lamprey presynaptic terminal. J Physiol. 2005 Nov 15;569(Pt 1):119-35. pubmed

Photowala H, Blackmer T, Schwartz E, Hamm HE, Alford S. G protein bg-subunits activated by serotonin mediate presynaptic inhibition by regulating vesicle fusion properties.Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 Mar 14;103(11):4281-6. pubmed
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Revised: September, 2006.