Olfactory memory trace formation in Drosophila

描述(申请人提供)：这项研究项目的长期目标是阐明细胞记忆痕迹的性质，它们形成的机制，它们的持续时间，以及它们在果蝇嗅觉神经系统中形成的神经元。在对苍蝇大脑中特定神经元的神经活动进行光学成像方面的最新进展，首次使嗅觉记忆痕迹得以可视化。提出了扩大这些观测结果的实验方案。通过触角叶神经活动对气味的完整表示将随着条件反射而发生的这种表示的变化而阐明。这些表达变化或记忆痕迹背后的机制，将通过突变和功能失活转基因的表达来探索。在嗅觉神经系统的其他神经元，包括DPM和蘑菇体神经元，发生的幼稚和条件气味反应将使用同样的光学成像技术进行研究。拟议中的实验将检测这些记忆痕迹，并提供关于它们的持久性和对条件气味的特异性的知识。DPM和蘑菇体神经元记忆痕迹形成的潜在机制也将通过突变和功能失活转基因来探索。多巴胺能神经元将无条件刺激传递给蘑菇体神经元的假设将通过检测多巴胺能对无条件刺激和条件刺激的反应来检验。最后，我们将比较在嗅觉神经系统中使用厌恶的非条件刺激和使用相同气味条件刺激的食欲非条件刺激形成的细胞记忆痕迹。这些实验将大大增加我们对记忆如何形成以及可能扰乱正常记忆形成的事件的理解。这将有助于我们理解影响记忆形成的疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goals of this research project are to elucidate the nature of cellular memory traces, the mechanisms underlying their formation, their duration, and the neurons in which they form within the Drosophila olfactory nervous system. Recent advances in optical imaging of neural activity in specific neurons of the fly's brain have allowed for the visualization of an olfactory memory trace for the first time. Experiments that will extend these observations are proposed. The complete representation of odors by neural activity in the antennal lobe will be elucidated along with the changes in this representation that occur with conditioning. The mechanisms underlying these changes in representation, or memory traces, will be probed using mutants and the expression of functionally inactivating transgenes. The naive and conditioned odorant responses that occur within other neurons of the olfactory nervous system, including the DPM and mushroom body neurons, will be studied using these same optical imaging techniques. The proposed experiments will detect these memory traces, and provide knowledge about their persistence and their specificity to conditioned odors. The mechanisms underlying the formation of DPM and mushroom body neuron memory traces will also be probed using mutants and functionally inactivating transgenes. The hypothesis that dopaminergic neurons convey the unconditioned stimulus to mushroom body neurons will be tested by examining dopaminergic responses to unconditioned and conditioned stimuli. Finally, comparisons will be made between the cellular memory traces that form in the olfactory nervous system using aversive unconditioned stimuli and appetitive unconditioned stimuli with the same odor conditioned stimulus. These experiments will significantly increase our understanding of how memories form and the events that can potentially perturb normal memory formation. This will aid in our understanding of the diseases that affect memory formation.