Analysis of AMPA-receptor trafficking during learning-induced reorganization of the auditory cortex

该项目旨在研究学习诱导的皮层回路重塑的分子机制。皮质地图的重组是一个很好的描述在体内的现象。体外研究表明，AMPA受体向突触区域的活动依赖性运输是突触可塑性的重要机制。该项目试图将系统水平上的可塑性现象与细胞/分子水平上描述的可塑性现象结合起来。这将通过实验诱导大鼠的初级听觉皮层中瞬时表达GFP标记的AMPA受体亚单位的音调定位图的可塑性来完成。随后，将制备听觉皮层的脑切片，并通过双光子激光扫描显微镜和膜片钳全细胞记录来分析重组AMPA受体与受感染神经元突触的结合。这些调查将提供有价值的见解AMPA受体在体内运输的调节。此外，他们可能会揭示特定的细胞类型和连接，表达突触可塑性的不同经验的学习条件。

The proposed project is designed to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying learning-induced remodeling of cortical circuits. Reorganization of cortical maps is a well described phenomenon in vivo. In vitro it has been shown that activitydependent trafficking of AMPA-receptors to synaptic domains is an important mechanism of synaptic plasticity. This project attempts to bring together plasticity phenomena at the systems level with those described at the cellular/molecular level. This will be done by experimental induction of plasticity of the tonotopic map in the primary auditory cortex of rats transiently expressing GFP-tagged AMPA-receptor subunits in vivo. Subsequently, brain slices of the auditory cortex will be prepared and incorporation of recombinant AMPA-receptors into synapses of infected neurons will be analysed by two-photon laser-scanning microscopy and patch-clamp whole-cell recordings. These investigations will provide valuable insights in the regulation of AMPA-receptor trafficking in vivo. Furthermore, they might reveal specific cell types and connections that express synaptic plasticity unter different experience of learning conditions.