The Receptive Fields of Dendrites and Spines in the Visual Cortex

描述(申请人提供)：视觉皮质中的单个神经元在其树突上接收来自其他皮质神经元的数千个突触输入。这些不同的突触输入在感觉信号处理中的功能尚不清楚。我们对活体中的单个神经元进行标记，以便可以可视化并绘制整个树突树的功能图。我们研究树突上的突触亚群是否在环境中处理不同的刺激特征。皮层神经元上的这些突触可能在经验依赖性可塑性和弱视等视觉经验改变最初有害影响后双眼视觉的恢复中发挥重要作用。 与公共健康相关：弱视是儿童视力受损的常见原因，大脑内的回路有利于处理来自两只眼睛中的一只眼睛的视觉刺激。该奖项将支持可能受到弱视影响的视觉皮质神经元的结构和功能成像研究。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): A single neuron in the visual cortex receives many thousands of synaptic inputs on its dendrites from other cortical neurons. The functions of these various synaptic inputs in sensory signal processing are unknown. We label single neurons in vivo such that the entire dendritic tree can be visualized and mapped functionally. We examine whether subsets of synapses on dendrites process different stimulus features in the environment. These synapses on cortical neurons may play an important role in experience dependent plasticity and the recovery of binocular vision after the initially detrimental effects of altered visual experience such as during amblyopia. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Amblyopia is a common cause of visual impairment in children where circuits within the brain favor the processing of visual stimuli from just one of the two eyes. This award will support research on structural and functional imaging of neurons in the visual cortex that may be affected by amblyopia.