Modelling of Spontaneous Activity and its Developmental Role in the Immature Vertebrate Retina

研究表明，出生前大脑的发育，在环境刺激很少或没有影响的情况下，很大程度上依赖于神经细胞的自发模式活动。视网膜是视觉刺激的第一个处理阶段，自发活动以缓慢传播的活动波的形式可见，称为视网膜波。实验研究表明，视网膜波影响视网膜的连通性及其对处理视觉信息的其他大脑区域的投射。该研究将使用数学模型和计算机模拟来研究产生视网膜波的机制及其对视网膜发育的影响。一个关键的问题是，视网膜波在发育过程中变化的速度、大小和频率等特性是否提供了发育线索。这项研究可能有助于视网膜变性治疗的发展，视网膜变性是一种视网膜细胞死亡导致视力逐渐丧失的疾病。通过诱导健康组织植入后的发育过程，诱导网络重构可恢复正常视力。视网膜可以进一步成为理解和治疗由早期自发活动中断引起的发育障碍的模型。

It has been shown that the development of the brain before birth, when stimulation from the environment has little or no influence, relies heavily on spontaneous patterned activity in nerve cells. In the retina, which is the first processing stage for visual stimuli, spontaneous activity is visible as slowly propagating waves of activity, called retinal waves. Experimental studies suggest that retinal waves influence the connectivity of the retina and its projections to other brain areas that process visual information. The proposed study will investigate, using mathematical modelling and computer simulations, the mechanisms that generate retinal waves and their influence on retinal development. A key question will be whether the properties of retinal waves such as velocity, size and frequency, which change in the course of development, provide developmental cues. This research could contribute to the development of treatments of retinal degeneration, a disease where retinal cell death leads to a gradual loss of vision. By inducing developmental processes after the insertion of healthy tissue, an induced network restructuring could restore normal vision. The retina could further be a model for the understanding and treatment of developmental disorders resulting from a disruption of early spontaneous activity.