Phase response properties of hippocampal neurons

神经科学中的一个基本挑战是理解记忆，即如何在神经回路中存储信息和从神经回路中检索信息。虽然突触的可塑性可能有助于记忆的储存，但提取过程的细胞学基础尚未被研究。本项目的目的是研究从海马体提取信息的基本细胞过程，已知这是某些类型记忆所必需的。在记忆处理过程中，海马体网络进入一种大约5赫兹的特征振荡状态，称为theta活动，人们认为信息可以通过单个神经元中相对于这种网络振荡的尖峰脉冲的时序来表示。在这里，我们将研究如何通过瞬间刺激诱导的放电阶段在单个神经元中提取信息。允许这种情况发生的神经元的属性是所谓的相位响应曲线(PRC)，它定义了相对于正在进行的振荡的尖峰时间。我们希望，这种分析神经元特性的方法可以给我们带来对记忆的新见解，无论是对大脑中信息存储的基本理解，还是对开发记忆障碍新疗法的可能性，以及类似原理可以在计算机中强有力地使用的可能性。

A fundamental challenge in neuroscience is to understand memory, i.e. how information can be stored in and retrieved from a neural circuit. Whereas synaptic plasticity is likely to contribute to memory storage, the cellular basis of the retrieval process has not been studied. The aim of the present project is to study fundamental cellular processes underlying retrieval of information from the hippocampus, known to be necessary for certain types of memory. During memory processing, the hippocampal network enters a state of characteristic oscillations of around 5 Hz, referred to as theta activity, and it is believed that information can be represented by the timing of spikes in individual neurons relative to this network oscillation. Here we would study how information can be retrieved in individual neurons by the phase of firing induced by a transient stimulus. The property of the neuron that allows this to happen is the so-called phase response curve (PRC), which defines the timing of the spike relative to the on-going oscillation. We hope that this way of analysing neuronal properties can give us new insight into memory, both for the basic understanding of information storage in the brain, for the possiblity of developing new treatments of memory disorders, and for the possibility that similar principles can be used powerfully in computers.