MATURATION AND PLASTICITY IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM

提出的实验检查在发育中的嗅觉系统中细胞增殖和死亡的控制。 嗅觉系统具有许多研究神经成熟机制所需的特征。 它是高度有组织的，有清晰的层压和一个精心研究的接线图，便于定量检查，并使微妙的变化相对容易辨别。 理解细胞增殖是重要的，因为这一基本步骤提供了构建大脑的神经和神经胶质成分。 理解细胞死亡同样重要，因为它是最终完善生命早期建立的连接的过程。 虽然这两个过程对于任何神经区域的形成都是至关重要的，但它们对于理解嗅觉系统的组织结构尤其重要，因为嗅觉受体细胞和中央元件在整个生命过程中不断形成和丢失。 拟议的实验检查细胞增殖和死亡的嗅粘膜，其中包含嗅觉感觉细胞，嗅球，这是在中枢神经系统中的一级处理站，和脑室下区/吻侧迁移流，一个区域，供应细胞的灯泡。 我们试图回答的具体问题包括：1）嗅粘膜：a）由于功能降低会减少细胞产生，那么增强的活动会增加细胞产生吗？ B）细胞死亡在早期发育过程中有多重要？ 它也可以通过活动来调节吗？2)a）在其他区域调节细胞生产的活动或化学因素会影响这里的过程吗？B）在生命早期的不同时期出生的细胞的命运是否存在差异？ c）这些命运可以通过改变嗅球的功能状态来操纵吗？

The experiments proposed examine the control of cell proliferation and death in the developing olfactory system. The olfactory system has many desirable characteristics for studies of the mechanisms of neural maturation. It is highly organized, with clear lamination and a well-studied wiring diagram, facilitating quantitative examinations and making subtle alterations relatively ease to discern. Understanding cell proliferation is important because this fundamental step provides the neural and glial elements from which the brain in constructed. Understanding cell death is equally as important as it is the process that ultimately refines the connections made during early life. While the two processes are crucial for the formation of any neural region, they are especially important for an understanding of the organization of the olfactory system, as both olfactory receptor cells and central elements are constantly formed and lost throughout life. The proposed experiments examine cell proliferation and death in the olfactory mucosa, which contains the olfactory sensory cells, the olfactory bulb, which is the first-order processing station in the central nervous system, and the subventricular zone/rostral migratory stream, a region that supplies cells to the bulb. The specific questions we seek to answer include: 1) Olfactory mucosa: a) Since reduced function can decrease cell production, can enhanced activity increase it? b) How important is cell death during early development? Can it be regulated by activity as well? 2) Central Structures a) Can activity or chemical factors that regulate cell production in other areas affect the process here? b) Are there differences in the fate of cell born at different times during early life? c) Can these fates be manipulated by changing the functional state of the olfactory bulb?