Plasticity in Odor Coding by Olfactory Receptor Neurons

描述（由申请人提供）：利用早期感觉剥夺来改变视觉和听觉系统发展的实验在这些领域产生了开创性的工作。研究表明，啮齿动物嗅觉剥夺在发育过程中会引起嗅觉系统的解剖和神经化学变化，但在嗅觉剥夺和恢复过程中，嗅觉系统的功能变化却鲜为人知。Wachowiak博士及其合作者展示了一种转基因小鼠模型，在该模型中，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时对嗅球中的ORN突触输出进行体内成像。因此，这些小鼠的使用为研究感觉剥夺对嗅觉系统功能发育的影响提供了新的机会。本研究将利用这些小鼠研究发育过程中嗅觉剥夺对脑干突触递质释放的影响，以及嗅球回路对其突触前调节的影响，以及鼻腔重开后嗅觉剥夺的恢复情况。这项研究将为嗅觉系统的活动依赖性发展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.