MATURATION AND PLASTICITY IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM

本实验旨在探讨发育中的嗅觉系统对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性。它是高度组织化的，有清晰的层压和精心研究的接线图，便于定量检查，并使细微的变化相对容易辨别。了解细胞增殖是很重要的，因为这一基本步骤提供了构建大脑的神经和神经胶质元素。理解细胞死亡与最终完善生命早期形成的联系的过程同样重要。虽然这两个过程对任何神经区域的形成都至关重要，但它们对于理解嗅觉系统的组织尤其重要，因为嗅觉受体细胞和中心元素在一生中都在不断形成和消失。本实验研究了嗅觉粘膜中细胞的增殖和死亡，其中包括嗅觉感觉细胞，嗅球，这是中枢神经系统的一级处理站，以及心室下区/吻侧迁移流，这是一个为球提供细胞的区域。我们寻求回答的具体问题包括：1)嗅觉粘膜：a)既然功能下降会减少细胞的产生，那么活性增强会增加细胞的产生吗？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？a)调节其他区域细胞生成的活性或化学因素会影响这里的过程吗？b)在生命早期不同时间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?