Optical Analysis of Synaptic Integration in Cerebellar Purkinje Cells

小行星9514266 中枢神经系统通常看起来像一个密集的，令人困惑的神经元阵列和神经元突触相互作用。 部分问题在于，突触在细胞上出现的特定位置的功能意义在很大程度上是未知的。 该补助金资助的研究重点是确定 浦肯野细胞上突触的空间排列，浦肯野细胞是小脑中最大的神经元，是大脑其他部分唯一的输出。 这一焦点涉及到电压依赖性膜如何 浦肯野细胞输入区的电导、树突和这些神经元的结构影响整合过程。 实验设计 以确定 的功能意义 这些突触输入的空间模式。 主要的技术是通过在脑组织切片中使用指示染料来光学记录钙浓度。 当与电记录结合时，钙浓度是整个神经元的细胞内电位变化的良好指标，因此是局部神经元活动的良好指标。 小脑皮质相对定型的电路为研究细胞几何结构的功能意义提供了有利的模型系统， 突触间的相互作用这些研究应该提供非常需要的，详细的描述突触的相互作用在至关重要的小脑神经元。 这样的描述将大大提高哺乳动物神经元在单细胞水平上的信息处理的知识。

9514266 Ross The central nervous system often appears like a dense, bewildering array of neurons and of neuronal synaptic interactions. Part of the problem is that the functional significance of specific locations at which synapses occur on cells is largely unknown. The focus of research funded by this grant is on determining the significance of the spatial arrangement of synapses on Purkinje cells, which are the largest neurons in the cerebellum and which provide the only output to other parts of the brain. This focus relates to the complex problem of how voltage-dependent membrane conductances in Purkinje cell input regions, the dendrites, and the architecture of these neurons influence the integration process. Experiments are designed to determine the functional significance of the spatial patterns of these synaptic inputs. The primary technique is optical recording of calcium concentrations through the use of indicator dyes in slices of brain tissue. Calcium concentrations, when combined with an electrical recording, are good indicators of changes in intracellular potentials throughout neurons and hence of local neuronal activity. The relatively stereotyped circuitry of the cerebellar cortex provides a favorable model system for studying the functional significance of cell geometry and synaptic interactions in detail. These studies should provide much needed, detailed descriptions of synaptic interactions in critically important cerebellar neurons. Such descriptions will greatly enhance knowledge of information processing in mammalian neurons at the single cell level.