Disinhibition-mediated long-term potentiation

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The ability of animals to adapt to their ever-changing environments depends in large part on their ability to learn and remember. To do so the brain deciphers thousands of electrical signals between billions of neurons at any given time. However it is unclear what information contained within these electrical signals the brain deems critical. For example, is it the overall amount of neural activity that is important or is it the small differences in timing between when two neurons are electrically active? Our research is centered on examining not only how the brain decodes electrical signals, but on the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Using state-of-the-art recordings we are able to measure the electrical activity simultaneously from two neurons which are being modified in response to electrical signals that simulate learning. This neuronal modification in response to electrical activity is called synaptic plasticity. This grant is focused on understanding how the brain chemical acetylcholine modifies synaptic plasticity. This research is clinically important because Alzheimer's disease, the neurodegenerative disorder which produces severe memory impairments results from a loss of acetylcholine in the brain. By performing experiments on hippocampal tissue from adult rodents we can determine how acetylcholine affects the induction of synaptic plasticity, which is known to underlie learning and memory.