RUI: The Functional Significance of Hippocampal Plasticity

大脑在受伤后如何自我重组，以及这种重组是否会改变大脑的功能，是现代神经科学中最大的谜团之一。了解这种损伤诱导的重组是否会促进返回，增强或阻碍大脑区域之间的交流，将有助于了解这种大脑可塑性如何有助于学习和记忆所需的基本功能。 该项目利用电生理学技术来确定大脑皮层受伤引起重新布线的两个不同的大脑区域，即隔膜和内嗅皮层，是否相互作用，改变了与它们相连的第三个区域，即海马体的功能-海马体是学习和记忆的关键。 Ramirez博士和他的学生以前已经证明，加速海马体的内嗅连接的重组可以促进记忆功能的恢复。 这个项目将阐明是否隔和内嗅皮层的相互作用可能促进这种功能的改善。 因此，该项目将为不同大脑区域的相互作用如何合作促进学习和记忆提供线索。 研究计划的一个重要组成部分是神经科学本科生的教育和培训。 学生将从多数群体、代表性不足的少数群体、残疾群体和社会/经济处境不利的学生中招募，作为“初级”同事参加即将进行的研究。 每个学生将在拟议的研究项目的各个方面进行密集培训，从动物护理到电生理实验，再到脑组织的制备和评估。 在戴维森学院建立一支投资于科学研究的学生队伍，可以激励自然科学和社会科学以及神经科学项目的其他学生和教师追求科学冒险。

How the brain reorganizes itself after an injury and whether this reorganization alters the brain's ability to function are among the great mysteries in modern neuroscience. Gaining an understanding of whether this injury-induced reorganization promotes return to, enhances, or impedes communication across brain areas will provide insights into how this brain plasticity might contribute to fundamental functions required for learning and memory. This project uses electrophysiological techniques to ascertain whether two distinct brain areas, i.e. the septum and the entorhinal cortex, that have undergone a rewiring induced by an injury to the brain's cortex interact to alter the function of a third area with which they are connected, i.e. the hippocampus -- a key player in learning and memory. Dr. Ramirez and his students have previously shown that accelerating the reorganization of entorhinal connections to the hippocampus promotes the return of memory function. This project will shed light on whether the interaction of the septum and the entorhinal cortex may promote this functional improvement. The project will thereby provide clues as to how the interaction of separate brain regions may cooperate to promote learning and memory. An essential component of the research program is the education and training of undergraduate students in neuroscience. Students will be recruited from the majority, underrepresented minority groups, disabled groups, and socially/financially disadvantaged students to participate as "junior" colleagues in the research to be undertaken. Each student will be trained intensively in every facet of the proposed research project, from animal care through electrophysiological experimentation to the preparation and assessment of brain tissue. Creating a cadre of students at Davidson College invested in scientific research may energize other students and faculty in the natural and social sciences as well as in the neuroscience program to pursue scientific adventure.