UCLA Neuroscience Program Ph.D. Admissions Neuroscience Faculty UCLA and Beyond  



Nicholas Brecha
Neurochemical Pathways in the Vertebrate Retina

Email Address:  nbrecha@ucla.edu

Work Address:
CHS
CHS
Phone Numbers:
310-825-6758 Laboratory
310-825-9556 Office

Selected Publications:

Guo Chenying, Stella Salvatore L, Hirano Arlene A, Brecha Nicholas C Plasmalemmal and vesicular gamma-aminobutyric acid transporter expression in the developing mouse retina.. The Journal of comparative neurology. 2009; 512(1): 6-26.
Stella Salvatore L, Li Stefanie, Sabatini Andrea, Vila Alejandro, Brecha Nicholas C Comparison of the ontogeny of the vesicular glutamate transporter 3 (VGLUT3) with VGLUT1 and VGLUT2 in the rat retina.. Brain research. 2008; 1215(1): 20-9.
Anselmi Nicholas C, Stella Nicholas C, Brecha Nicholas C, Sternini Nicholas C Galanin inhibition of voltage-dependent Ca(2+) influx in rat cultured myenteric neurons is mediated by galanin receptor 1.. Journal of neuroscience research. 2008; 512(1): .
Hirano Arlene A, Brandstätter Johann Helmut, Vila Alejandro, Brecha Nicholas C Robust syntaxin-4 immunoreactivity in mammalian horizontal cell processes.. Visual neuroscience. 2008; 24(4): 489-502.
D'Angelo I, Brecha NC. Y2 receptor expression and inhibition of voltage-dependent Ca2+ influx into rod bipolar cell terminals.. Neuroscience 2004; 125(4): 1039-49.
Minnis JG, Patierno S, Kohlmeier SE, Brecha NC, Tonini M, Sternini C. Ligand-induced mu opioid receptor and endocytosis and recycling in enteric neurons.. Neuroscience 2003; 119(1): 33-42.
Oh Su-Ja, D'Angelo Iona, Lee Eun-Jin, Chun Myung-Hoon, Brecha Nicholas C Distribution and synaptic connectivity of neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive amacrine cells in the rat retina.. The Journal of comparative neurology. 2002; 446(3): 219-34.
Casini, G Sabatini, A Catalani, E Willems, D Bosco, L Brecha, NC Expression of the neurokinin 1 receptor in the rabbit retina.. Neuroscience. . 2002; 115(4): 1309-21.
Kang, WS Lim, MY Lee, EJ Kim, IB Oh, SJ Brecha, NC Park, CB Chun, MH Light- and electron-microscopic analysis of neuropeptide Y-immunoreactive amacrine cells in the guinea pig retina.. Cell and tissue research. . 2001; 306(3): 363-71.
Casini, G Brecha, NC Bosco, L Rickman, DW Developmental expression of neurokinin-1 and neurokinin-3 receptors in the rat retina.. The Journal of comparative neurology. . 2000; 421(2): 275-87.
Melone, M Brecha, NC Sternini, C Evans, C Conti, F Etorphine increases the number of mu-opioid receptor-positive cells in the cerebral cortex.. Neuroscience. . 2000; 100(3): 439-43.
Sternini, C Brecha, NC Minnis, J D'Agostino, G Balestra, B Fiori, E Tonini, M Role of agonist-dependent receptor internalization in the regulation of mu opioid receptors.. Neuroscience. . 2000; 98(2): 233-41.
Akopian, A., Johnson, J., Gabriel, R., Brecha, N.C. and P. Witkovsky Somatostatin modulates voltage-gated K+ and Ca2+ currents in rod and cone photoreceptors of the salamander retina.. Journal of Neuroscience 20:929-936. 2000; 20: 929-936.
Johnson, J Wu, V Wong, H Walsh, JH Brecha, NC Somatostatin receptor subtype 2A expression in the rat retina.. Neuroscience. . 1999; 94(3): 675-83.
Johnson, J Wong, H Walsh, JH Brecha, NC Expression of the somatostatin subtype 2A receptor in the rabbit retina.. The Journal of comparative neurology. . 1998; 393(1): 93-101.
Casini, G Rickman, DW Sternini, C Brecha, NC Neurokinin 1 receptor expression in the rat retina.. The Journal of comparative neurology. . 1997; 389(3): 496-507.
Johnson, J., Chen, T.K., Rickman, D.W., Evans, C., and Brecha, N.C Multiple g-aminobutyric acid plasma membrane transporters (GAT-1, GAT-2 and GAT-3) in the rat retina.. Journal of Comparative Neurology 1996; 375: 212-224.
Rickman, DW Blanks, JC Brecha, NC Somatostatin-immunoreactive neurons in the adult rabbit retina.. The Journal of comparative neurology. . 1996; 365(3): 491-503.
Brecha, N., Johnson, J., Kui, R., Anton, B., Keith Jr., D., Evans, C., and Sternini, C. Mu opioid receptor immunoreactivity is expressed in the retina and retinal-recipient nuclei.. Analgesia 1995; 1: 331-334.
Corey, JL Davidson, N Lester, HA Brecha, N Quick, MW Protein kinase C modulates the activity of a cloned gamma-aminobutyric acid transporter expressed in Xenopus oocytes via regulated subcellular redistribution of the transporter.. The Journal of biological chemistry. . 1994; 269(20): 14759-67.
Research Interest:

My research interests are concerned with understanding the functional organization, and regulation of fast (amino acid) and slow (peptide) transmitter systems to better understand cell - cell communication in the nervous system. Investigations have mainly used the retina as a model to evaluate these transmitter systems. In particular, my research interests are focused on evaluating the morphological and neurochemical organization of the inner retina, and amacrine and bipolar cell populations, which are major retinal cell types that play critical roles in the processing of visual information. Recent investigations concerned with peptide-containing cell populations are defining the cellular expression patterns of tachykinin, somatostatin and opiate peptide receptors. These studies have shown that peptide receptor subtypes are selectively expressed by different populations of bipolar, amacrine and ganglion cells. These observations have provided important clues to the organization of the retinal microcircuits mediating different aspects of vision, as well as the sites of action of several previously identified retinal transmitter substances. Significant efforts are also focused on the identification and characterization of GABAergic cell types and their sites of action in the retina with specific antibodies to GABA, to the GABA synthetic enzymes, and to individual subunits of the GABAA receptor complex. Finally, to determine the sites of synaptic inactivation of GABA, the cellular localization of GABA uptake sites is being determined using novel cDNA probes and antibodies to the GABA plasma membrane transporters, GAT-1, GAT-2, GAT-3 and BGT. Overall, these studies have demonstrated the presence of distinct neurochemically identified bipolar, amacrine and ganglion cell populations. These observations indicate that different amacrine, bipolar and ganglion cell populations form defined retinal microcircuits, and play unique roles in the processing of visual information.