On 28th November OxTalks will move to the new Halo platform and will become 'Oxford Events' (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
There will be an OxTalks freeze beginning on Friday 14th November. This means you will need to publish any of your known events to OxTalks by then as there will be no facility to publish or edit events in that fortnight. During the freeze, all events will be migrated to the new Oxford Events site. It will still be possible to view events on OxTalks during this time.
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Giant calyx of Held synapses are renowned for delivering spikes with millisecond precision – but so far they were thought to be confined to auditory brainstem circuits. We report a second calyx-like architecture in the rodent extended amygdala that contains glutamate, acetylcholine, and multiple neuropeptides within a single terminal. Originating from the pontine Kölliker–Fuse nucleus, these synapses engage capsular neurons of the central amygdala and oval neurons of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis within minutes of acute hypotension, preceding the slower hypothalamo-pituitary vasopressin response. The discovery (i) expands the calyx concept beyond sensory relays, (ii) links a limbic structure directly to fast sympathetic rescue of blood pressure, and (iii) highlights a multimodal transmitter strategy for integrating visceral and emotional information – insights with potential relevance for stress, cardiovascular function, and affective disorders.