Activity-Dependent Modification of Ionic Conductances in Cultured Neurons

小行星9421233 动物学习和记忆的能力来自神经系统。学习和记住神经系统内的神经回路的特性是随着经验而改变的。 这些经验依赖性修饰包括个体神经元的内在性质和神经元之间突触连接的性质的修饰。学习模型几乎只强调突触修饰在编码经验中的作用，但最近的研究表明，以突触前神经元活动形式出现的经验可以深刻地改变神经元的内在放电特性。这一发现确定了一种额外的强大机制，通过这种机制，活动可以塑造神经回路输出。这项工作的目标是确定活动调节内在神经元放电特性的机制，并询问这种调节如何与突触特性的调节协调以编码经验。这将使我们更好地理解我们如何学习和记忆。

9421233 Turrigiano The ability of animals to learn and remember arises from the nervous system. To learn and remember the properties of the neural circuits within the nervous system are modified with experience. These experience-dependent modifications include modifications in both the intrinsic properties of individual neurons and the properties of the synaptic connections between neurons. Models of learning have stressed almost exclusively the role of synaptic modifications in encoding experience, but recent work has shown that experience, in the form of activity in the presynaptic neurons, can profoundly alter the intrinsic firing properties of neurons. This finding identifies an additional powerful mechanisms by which activity can shape neural circuit output. The goal of this work is to determine the mechanisms by which activity regulates intrinsic neuronal firing properties and to ask how this regulation is coordinated with the regulation of synaptic properties to encode experience. This will lead us to a better understanding of how we learn and how we remember.