Form and function: adapting dendritic morphology and synaptic location to optimise neural activity

形式和功能：调整树突形态和突触位置以优化神经活动

• 批准号: 2594273
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Sheffield
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2594273
• 关键词: Form; function; adapting; dendritic; morphology

Neurons have remarkable morphologies, with elaborately branching dendrites and precisely placed synapses. What determines the shape of neurons? To what extent can their anatomy be tuned to optimise neuronal physiology? We address this question in the fruit fly Drosophila, where olfactory associative memories are stored in neurons called Kenyon cells. Our recent modelling work predicts that, to maximise memory capacity, all Kenyon cells should be equally excitable, and that achieving equal activity despite their variable intrinsic excitability requires compensatory variability (e.g., Kenyon cells with higher-than-usual spiking thresholds also have stronger-than-usual synaptic inputs). Do Kenyon cells tune their morphology to compensate for variability in other parameters? For example, a Kenyon cell with lower-than-usual spiking threshold might reduce its excitability by lengthening/narrowing its dendrites or placing excitatory synapses more distally, so that input signals weaken before they reach the spike initiation zone.

神经元具有显著的形态，具有精心分枝的树突和精确放置的突触。是什么决定了神经元的形状？他们的解剖结构可以在多大程度上被调整以优化神经生理学？我们在果蝇身上解决了这个问题，在果蝇中，嗅觉联想记忆存储在称为凯尼恩细胞的神经元中。我们最近的建模工作预测，为了最大化记忆能力，所有的Kenyon细胞都应该具有同等的兴奋性，尽管其内在兴奋性不同，但要实现同等的活动需要补偿性变异性(例如，具有比平时更高的尖峰阈值的Kenyon细胞也有比平时更强的突触输入)。凯尼恩细胞是否调整其形态以补偿其他参数的变化？例如，具有低于正常尖峰阈值的Kenyon细胞可能会通过延长/缩小其树突或将兴奋性突触放置在更远的位置来降低其兴奋性，从而使输入信号在到达尖峰起始区之前减弱。