Role of Activity in Retinotectal Development

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案涉及开发一种系统，用于斑马鱼视网膜神经节细胞的时间和空间控制条件沉默。该系统基于果蝇的P[开关]系统，将在整个斑马鱼神经系统的各种研究中具有潜在的用途。具体来说，本提案的后期目标将包括分析活动和竞争对建立视网膜定位图的重要性，并确定斑马鱼中这种活动的关键时期。最后，成年斑马鱼不断发展的视网膜连接允许分析神经元可塑性的活动。所有这些问题都将通过在发育过程中阻断视网膜神经节细胞亚群的活动，并观察对单个神经元结构的影响，以及对整个视网膜定位图的影响来解决。这些实验有可能提供有关活动和竞争在脊椎动物神经发育中的作用的信息

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposal involves the development of a system for the temporally and spatially controlled conditional silencing of retinal ganglion cells in zebrafish. The system, based on the P[switch] system in Drosophila, will be of potential use to a wide variety of studies throughout the zebrafish nervous system. Specifically, the later aims of this proposal will involve analyzing the importance of activity and competition for the establishment of the retinotopic map, and determining a critical period for this activity in zebrafish. Finally, the constantly developing retinotectal connections in adult zebrafish allow for the analysis of activity in neuronal plasticity. All of these issues will be approached by blocking activity in subsets of retinal ganglion cells for discrete periods of time during development, and observing the effects on the structures of individual neurons, and on the retinotopic map as a whole. These experiments have the potential to provide information on the roles of activity and competition on neural development in vertebrates