U.S.-China Cooperative Research: Patch-clamp Studies of Cholinergic Transmission in the Tectum

9513896 Udin该奖项支持纽约州立大学布法罗分校的Susan Udin博士和北京医科大学的蔡浩俭博士在膜片钳研究中的合作，研究1996年4月22日在顶盖的胆碱能传递。中枢神经系统包含多种烟碱和毒扁豆碱受体亚型，但在了解这些受体如何对接受胆碱能输入的细胞的生理反应起作用方面仍存在许多空白。开始评估这些受体的作用的一种方法是研究青蛙视顶盖中神经元的反应。青蛙顶盖特别适合，因为它有一个异常有限的胆碱能轴突群体，所有这些轴突都来自峡核。全细胞膜片钳技术将用于鉴定对胆碱能激动剂有反应的顶盖细胞。细胞的分布和形态将通过生物细胞素填充来揭示。这些结果将有助于阐明中枢神经系统神经元中胆碱能过程的作用。此外，Rana的这些实验将提供与非洲爪蛙类似实验结果进行比较的数据；这种比较是有意义的，因为从对侧峡核投射到非洲爪哇顶盖的胆碱能轴突在胆碱能轴突发育的关键时期显示出戏剧性的可塑性，而Rana中没有这种可塑性。

9513896 Udin This award supports collaboration between Dr. Susan Udin, SUNY, Buffalo, and Dr. Tsai Haojan, Beijing Medical University, China on patch-clamp studies ofApril 22, 1996 cholinergic transmission in the tectum. The CNS contains a multiplicity of nicotinic and muscarinic receptor subtypes, but many gaps remain in the understanding of how these receptors contribute to physiological response of the cells that receive cholinergic inputs. One way to begin to assess the contribution of those receptors is to study to the responses of neurons in the frog optic tectum. The frog tectum is particularly suitable because it has an unusually restricted population of cholinergic axons, all of which are derived from the nucleus isthmi. Whole-cell patch clamping will be used to identify tectal cells that respond to cholinergic agonists. The distribution and morphology of the cells will be revealed by biocytin filling. The results will help to clarify the contribution of cholinergic processes in central nervous system neurons. In addition, these experiments with Rana will provide data for comparison with results of the similar experiments in Xenopus frogs; this comparison is of interest because the cholinergic axons that project to the Xenopus tectum from the contralateral nucleus isthmi display dramatic plasticity during a critical period of development of the cholinergic axons, whereas such plasticity is absent in Rana.