Analysis and modulation of hippocampal functional connectivity between engram cells underlying spatial memory (B07)

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

We use optogenetic and electrophysiological approaches to investigate how specific neuronal populations encode spatial memories. By activity-dependent expression of optogenetic silencers, we are able to shut off mossy cells that were highly active during encoding of a specific spatial location and test the effects on water maze performance. As we could show, learning of a new location typically re-activates dentate gyrus neurons encoding for the old location. We will investigate the importance of this reactivation for successful reversal learning and monitor learning-induced connectivity changes between the left and right hemisphere.