MATURATION AND PLASTICITY IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM

嗅觉敏感度已被证明对 指导许多哺乳动物的一些早期行为 物种。而化学敏感性在行为中的作用 发展已经得到了很好的研究，但相对知之甚少 关于嗅觉系统中主要继电器的个体发育， 嗅球。拟议研究的目的之一是 开始彻底的解剖、神经化学和生化 研究鳞茎发育以便更好地了解 在这一重要的感官形态中成熟。 这项研究的第二个目的是使用嗅球 研究经验因素如何调节大脑发育。 虽然已经反复证明，环境 输入在塑造神经成熟模式方面很重要， 相对较少的研究检查了细胞事件通过 其中的塑造发生了。这笔赠款的目的是 这些问题是通过考察单方面剥夺对 嗅球的发育。两个具体问题 将会得到解决。首先，建议的研究将研究 气流减少引起的突触后事件的顺序 通过嗅觉感受器。这些研究将导致 加深对经验诱导机制的理解 变化。其次，拟议的研究将有助于确定 鳞茎发育的各个方面在经验上都很敏感 它们是独立的，以确定为什么经验 在生命的某些阶段对神经生长有如此重要的影响 其他人则很少。定量神经解剖学、神经化学 生化技术也将被用于这些研究。 拟议的实验将有助于定义正常和 经验修饰的初级感觉核团的生长 受到的关注相对较少。调查结果将会有 对我们早期大脑概念的重要启示 功能、正常脑发育与细胞相互作用 环境事件通过这些事件控制着 大脑发育。

Olfactory sensitivity has been demonstrated to be important for directing a number of early behaviors in many mammalian species. While the role of chemosensitivity in behavioral development has been well studied, relatively little is known about the ontogeny of the principal relay in the olfactory system, the olfactory bulb. One purpose of the proposed research is to begin thorough anatomical, neurochemical and biochemical studies of bulb development in order to better understand maturation in this important sensory modality. A second purpose of the studies is to use the olfactory bulb to examine how experiential factors regulate brain development. While it has been demonstrated repeatedly that environmental input is important in shaping patterns of neural maturation, relatively little research has examined the cellular events through which the shaping occurs. The present grant is designed to pursue these issues by examining the effects of unilateral deprivation on the development of the olfactory bulb. Two specific problems will be addressed. First, the proposed studies will examine the sequence of postsynaptic events resulting from decreased airflow over the olfactory receptors. These studies will lead to an enhanced understanding of the mechanisms of experience-induced change. Second, the proposed studies will help to define which aspects of bulb development are experientially sensitive and which are independent in order to determine why experience has such important effects on neural growth at some stages in life and little at others. Quantitative neuroanatomical, neurochemical and biochemical techniques will also be used in these studies. The proposed experiments will help define normal and experientially modified growth in a primary sensory nucleus which has received relatively little attention. The findings will have important implications for our conceptions of early brain function, normal brain development and the cellular interactions through which environmental events control the patterning of brain growth.