MATURATION AND PLASTICITY IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM

嗅觉敏感性已被证明是重要的， 指导许多哺乳动物的早期行为 物种 虽然化学敏感性在行为中的作用 发展已经得到了很好的研究，相对来说， 关于嗅觉系统中主要中继的个体发育， 嗅球 拟议研究的目的之一是 开始彻底的解剖学，神经化学和生物化学 为了更好地了解鳞茎的发育， 这一重要的感官形态的成熟。 研究的第二个目的是利用嗅球 研究经验因素如何调节大脑发育。 虽然一再表明，环境 输入在形成神经成熟的模式中是重要的， 相对较少的研究已经检查了细胞事件， 其发生成形。 目前的赠款旨在追求 通过审查单方面剥夺对土著人民的影响， 嗅球的发育 两个具体问题 将得到解决。 首先，拟议的研究将审查 由气流减少引起的一系列突触后事件 嗅觉感受器。 这些研究将导致 加深对经验诱发的机制的理解 变化 第二，拟议的研究将有助于确定 鳞茎发育的各个方面在经验上是敏感的， 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的重要影响， 很少在别人。 定量神经解剖学、神经化学 生物化学技术也将用于这些研究。 拟议的实验将有助于定义正常和 在初级感觉核中的经验性修饰的生长， 受到的关注相对较少。 调查结果将有 对我们早期大脑概念的重要影响 功能，正常的大脑发育和细胞相互作用 环境事件通过它来控制 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.