RUI: The Functional Significance of Hippocampal Plasticity

受伤后大脑如何自我重组，以及这种重组是否会改变大脑的功能，这些都是现代神经科学中最大的谜团之一。了解这种损伤引起的重组是否促进了大脑区域间的交流，增强了还是阻碍了交流，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。这个项目使用电生理技术来确定两个不同的大脑区域，即隔膜和内嗅皮层，是否因为大脑皮层损伤而经历了重新连接，从而改变了与它们相连的第三个区域的功能，即海马体——学习和记忆的关键角色。拉米雷斯博士和他的学生们之前已经证明，加速内嗅与海马体连接的重组，可以促进记忆功能的恢复。这个项目将阐明中隔和内嗅皮层的相互作用是否会促进这种功能的改善。因此，该项目将为了解不同大脑区域如何相互作用以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、代表性不足的少数群体、残疾群体和社会/经济上处于不利地位的学生中招募，作为“初级”同事参与即将进行的研究。每个学生都将在拟议研究项目的各个方面接受强化训练，从动物护理到电生理实验，再到脑组织的准备和评估。在戴维森学院建立一支投资于科学研究的学生骨干队伍，可能会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.