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

我们使用光遗传学和电生理学的方法来研究特定的神经元群体如何编码空间记忆。通过光遗传沉默子的活性依赖性表达，我们能够关闭在特定空间位置编码期间高度活跃的苔藓细胞，并测试对水迷宫性能的影响。正如我们所展示的，对新位置的学习通常会重新激活对旧位置进行编码的齿状回神经元。我们将研究这种重新激活对于成功的反向学习的重要性，并监测学习引起的左右半球之间的连接变化。

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.