Plasticity in Odor Coding by Olfactory Receptor Neurons

描述（由申请人提供）：使用早期感觉剥夺来改变视觉和听觉系统发育的实验在这些领域产生了开创性的工作。在新生啮齿动物中，嗅觉剥夺已被证明在发育过程中引起嗅觉系统的显著解剖学和神经化学变化，但对剥夺和恢复过程中相应的功能变化知之甚少。Wachowiak博士及其合作者已经证明了一种转基因小鼠模型，其中嗅觉受体神经元（ORN）的突触末端在释放递质时发出荧光，从而允许在气味呈现期间嗅球中ORN突触输出的体内成像。因此，这些小鼠的使用，提供了新的机会，调查感觉剥夺对嗅觉系统的功能发育的影响。这里提出的工作将使用这些小鼠来研究发育过程中嗅觉剥夺对ORN的突触递质释放及其通过嗅球电路的突触前调制的影响，以及在鼻孔重新开放后从剥夺中恢复。这项研究将为嗅觉系统的活动依赖性发育和调节提供新的见解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Experiments using early sensory deprivation to alter the development of the visual and auditory systems have produced seminal work in those fields. Olfactory deprivation in the neonatal rodent has been shown to evoke dramatic anatomical and neurochemical changes in the olfactory system during development, but little is known about the corresponding functional changes during deprivation and recovery. Dr. Wachowiak and collaborators have demonstrated a transgenic mouse model in which the synaptic terminals of olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) fluoresce when they release transmitter, permitting the in vivo imaging of ORN synaptic output in the olfactory bulb during odorant presentation. The use of these mice, therefore, provides novel opportunities to investigate the effects of sensory deprivation on the functional development of the olfactory system. The work proposed here will use these mice to study the effects of olfactory deprivation during development on synaptic transmitter release from ORNs and its presynaptic modulation by olfactory bulb circuitry, as well as the recovery from deprivation following the reopening of the naris. This research will provide new insights into the activity-dependent development and regulation of the olfactory system.