MATURATION AND PLASTICITY IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM

下面提出的实验旨在检查在 嗅球及其主要突触靶点--前嗅觉 核团和初级嗅觉皮质。已经选择了嗅觉系统 有几个原因。首先，它是高度有组织的，促进 早期发育的定量检验和微妙 变化相对容易辨别。许多有趣的早期形式 在包括诱导组织在内的系统中已经证明了可塑性。 相互作用和对早期刺激的高度敏感性。确实很早 单边气味剥夺已被反复证明会导致 在中部观察到的一些最大的由体验引起的变化 神经系统。因此，该地区提供了相当大的潜力 对环境因素帮助的机制的研究 指定早期生长。 提出了两组实验。第一个继续我们的 大鼠早期嗅球发育的定量检测 它强调研究功能活动的改变如何影响 鳞茎生长。具体来说，我们会研究： 正常发育和缺乏的蛋白质合成模式 用球茎研究嗅觉系统的早期细胞生物学 球状胶质细胞种群发育的变化。 另一组研究检查了灰色、短尾的早期鳞茎的生长 斑腿负鼠家养动物。Monodelphis幼崽出生在非常不成熟的 状态，并且非常容易进行早期实验操作，允许 对早期组织相互作用的深入研究。具体实验 包括： 早期功能剥夺的检查以评估如何活动 影响早期生长。 摘除球茎对高血压病发展影响的评估 对嗅觉结构进行排序。总而言之，拟议的研究将探讨 早期发展过程，如具有教育意义的相互作用 组织之间发生的传入活动在生长和发育中的作用 差异化。

The experiments proposed below are designed to examine development in the olfactory bulb and its principal synaptic targets, the anterior olfactory nucleus and primary olfactory cortex. The olfactory system has been chosen for several reasons. First, it is highly organized, facilitating quantitative examinations of early development and making subtle alterations relatively easy to discern. Many interesting forms of early plasticity have been demonstrated in the system, including inductive tissue interactions and substantial sensitivity to early stimutation. Indeed early unilateral odor deprivation has been repeatedly demonstrated to result in some of the largest experience-induced changes observed in the central nervous system. As a result the region affords considerable potential for examinations of the mechanisms by which environmental factors help to specify early growth. Two groups of experiments are proposed. The first continues our quantitative examination of early olfactory bulb development in the rat which emphasizes studies of how alterations in functional activity affect bulb growth. Specifically, we will examine: patterns of protein synthesis both in normally developing and deprived bulbs to examine the early cell biology of the olfactory system changes in the development of bulb glia populations. Another set of studies examines early bulb growth in the gray, short-tailed opossum Monodelphis domestics. Monodelphis pups are born in a very immature state, and are quite accessible to early experimental manipulation allowing in depth examinations of early tissue interactions. Specific experiments include: examinations of early functional deprivation to gauge how activity influences early growth. assessment of the effects of bulb removal on the development of higher order olfactory structures. In summary, the proposed research will explore early developmental processes such as the instructive interactions which occur between tissues and the role of afferent activity in growth and differentiation.