Presidential Faculty Fellow

青木博士因其杰出的研究成就而被选为30个著名的NSF校长院士奖之一。在获奖期间，青木博士将使用电子显微镜免疫细胞化学来识别与完整皮质组织中的递质受体相关的化学指定轴突或生长锥体。出生时，大脑皮质中突触的密度不超过成人水平的10%，目前还不知道大脑皮质内化学指定突触的发育情况。在生命早期，去甲肾上腺素能和兴奋性突触的成熟对于理解皮质可塑性的机制尤为重要。去甲肾上腺素在皮质可塑性中的重要性反映在一个新的工作假说中，该假说支持了皮质可塑性是由利用儿茶酚胺和乙酰胆碱的兴奋性突触的双重调制决定的。

Dr. Aoki has been selected to receive one of 30 prestigious NSF Presidential Faculty Fellowship awards based upon her outstanding research accomplishments. During the period of this award, Dr. Aoki will be using electron microscopic immunocytochemistry to identify chemically specified axons or growth cones in relation to transmitter receptors within intact cortical tissue. At birth, the density of synapses in the cerebral cortex is no more than 10% of the adult level, and nothing is presently known about the development of chemically specified synapses within cortex. The maturation of noradrenergic and excitatory synapses during early life is particularly important for understanding the mechanisms that underlie cortical plasticity. The importance of noradrenaline in cortical plasticity is reflected in a new working hypothesis supported by results that cortical plasticity is dictated by the dual modulation of excitatory synapses utilizing both catecholamines and acetylcholine.