Astroglial cells in telencephalic development and plasticity

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Over the long-term, my research program is focused on understanding the basic processes that mediate the brain's ability to respond to its environment (also known as brain plasticity) across the lifespan. On the whole, juveniles respond more readily to "positive" environmental interventions such as enrichment then adults. For example, music, second language acquisition, and physical enrichment are typically more successful in juveniles then adults- the current proposal focuses on what mediates these differences in the ability to respond to environmental stimuli between juveniles and adults. In particular, we have shown that environmental enrichment of juvenile mice leads to cognitive improvements and neurobiological changes that are not observed in enriched adults. Our research focuses on the response of a particular cell: astrocytes, which are the most abundant cell type in the mammalian brain, even as compared to neurons, the most well-studied cell type in the brain. The neuron to astrocyte ratio increases with brain complexity: culminating at 1.4 astrocytes to every neuron within the human brain. Astroglial cells encompass several subtypes, but together, they play pivotal roles in cell metabolism, modifying cell-to-cell connectivity and providing trophic support to neurons, in addition, they function as neural stem cells. ***Despite a clear role for astrocytes in brain integrity and function, only a handful of studies have profiled these cells across development, or examined the functional role of astrocytes across the lifespan. Therefore, my research program will begin by profiling astrocytes across the lifespan both under normal conditions and in response to environmental enrichment. We will examine astroglial responsivity and function from the most fundamental gene expression changes to functional outcomes at the level of the whole organism. We will employ several cutting edge techniques in order to understand the general conditions by which we can manipulate astrocyte function, which will ultimately serve as a medium through which to influence brain viability and function.**