EPILEPSY RESEARCH CENTER

这个多学科的研究计划结合了各种分析 研究突触生理学、生物物理学和 癫痫发生的生物化学和癫痫的发展 哺乳动物大脑中的一个过程。 目标是应用新的方法， 选择性地测量兴奋性突触的兴奋性变化， 抑制性突触传递的第二信使调节，和 轴突发芽在特定的神经网络，以确定是否关键 癫痫大脑中的兴奋性缺陷是由使用依赖性和 潜在的可逆机制。 这项研究测试了从分子到 神经组织的结构层次，并基于三个模型 系统. (1)急性癫痫，使用海马切片技术， 将重点研究使用依赖性的直接作用 CA 3区复发性兴奋性突触的可塑性 以及癫痫样活动产生中的长时程增强。 (2)慢性局灶性癫痫，使用点燃动物的切片， 将进行研究，以确定异常的功能后果， 在长时间的异常刺激期间苔藓纤维生长。 (3)继承 全身性癫痫发生，使用癫痫小鼠的切片， 单位点基因突变，将进行研究，以检查突触和 网络爆发的生化机制，GABA- 受体介导的抑制和异常轴突发芽， 新突触发生 这项研究计划的一个关键因素是高度的 在技术和概念两级的互动和协作， 在组成研究小组的科学家中。

This multidisciplinary research program combines various analytic techniques to investigate the synaptic physiology, biophysics, and biochemistry of epileptogenesis and the development of the epileptic process in mammalian brain. The goal is to apply new methods of selectively measuring excitability changes at excitatory synapses, second-messenger modulation of inhibitory synaptic transmission, and axonal sprouting in specific neural networks to determine whether key excitability defects in epileptic brain are mediated by use-dependent and potentially reversible mechanisms. The research tests specific hypotheses extending from the molecular to the structural levels of neural organization, and is based on three model systems. (1) Acute epileptogenesis, using hippocampal slice techniques, will be studied with a focus on the immediate role of use-dependent plastic properties of recurrent excitatory synapses in the CA3 subfield and on long-term potentiation in the generation of epileptiform activity. (2) Chronic focal epileptogenesis, using slices from kindled animals, will be studied to determine the functional consequences of aberrant mossy fiber growth during prolonged abnormal stimulation. (3) Inherited generalized epileptogenesis, using slices from epileptic mice with single-locus genetic mutations, will be studied to examine synaptic and biochemical mechanisms underlying network bursting, modulation of GABA- receptor-mediated inhibition, and aberrant axonal sprouting and neosynaptogenesis. A critical element of this research program is the high degree of interaction and collaboration, at both technical and conceptual levels, among the scientists who comprise the research team.