MATURATION AND PLASTICITY IN THE OLFACTORY SYSTEM

提出的实验旨在研究嗅觉发育系统中细胞增殖和死亡的控制。嗅觉系统对于研究神经成熟的机制具有许多理想的特性。它组织严密，具有清晰的层叠和经过充分研究的接线图，便于进行定量检查，并使细微的变化相对容易识别。了解细胞增殖很重要，因为这一基本步骤提供了构成大脑的神经和神经胶质元素。了解细胞死亡与最终完善早期生命中建立的联系的过程一样重要。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尤其重要，因为嗅觉感受器细胞和中枢成分都是在一生中不断形成和消失的。拟议的实验检测了嗅黏膜中的细胞增殖和死亡，其中包括嗅觉细胞，嗅球是中枢神经系统中的第一级处理站，以及脑室下区/吻部迁移流，这是一个为嗅球提供细胞的区域。我们试图回答的具体问题包括：1)嗅黏膜：a)既然功能降低会减少细胞产量，那么增强的活性能增加细胞产量吗？B)细胞死亡在早期发育过程中有多重要？它是否也受活动的调节？2)中央结构a)调节其他区域细胞生产的活动或化学因素是否会影响这一过程？B)在早期生命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?