Optical Studies of Synaptic Plasticity

多年来，神经生物学家一直推测，学习和记忆的物理基础涉及大脑中特定的结构变化，特别是新神经连接的生长。但直到最近十年左右，现代神经生物学技术才开始应用于学习和记忆的形态基础问题。现在，当动物从事学习任务时，可以直接看到完整的、活的神经系统的结构变化。大卫·格兰兹曼博士正在使用光学记录和视频显微镜来更深入地了解学习和记忆的细胞机制。他在研究在分离细胞培养中重建的感觉运动型突触时，利用了一种无脊椎动物的准备。在这些研究中观察到的动态细胞变化可能为与学习相关的特定生化和分子事件提供机械作用。

For years, neurobiologists have speculated that the physical basis of learning and memory involves specific structural changes in the brain, and, particularly, the growth of new neural connections. But only within the last decade or so have the techniques of modern neurobiology been brought to bear on the problem of the morphological substrates of learning and memory. Now, it is possible to directly visualize structural changes in the intact, living nervous system while an animal is engaged in a learning task. Dr. David Glanzman is using optical recording and video microscopy to gain a deeper understanding of the cellular mechanisms of learning and memory. He is utilizing an invertebrate preparation while studying sensorimotor synapses reconstituted in dissociated cell culture. The dynamic cellular changes observed in these studies may provide mechanistic roles for specific biochemical and molecular events associated with learning.