INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION IN RETINAL DEVELOPMENT

描述(摘自申请者的摘要)：确定神经元 在生命的早期形成高度组织化的关系是 了解神经系统是如何发育的。神经的精确模式 连接在开发过程中出现，就像不适当的连接 被消除，并保持适当的。这一竞争过程是 由神经元活动驱动，使细胞“一起发射，连线 发展中的视觉系统的许多部分的连接性经历 通过行动潜力活动驱动的流程进行重组 视网膜，甚至在视力出现之前。这项提案涉及到 在建立功能离散中的自发周期爆发活动 从视网膜到雪貂中心靶点的投射。特指 它着重于视网膜神经节细胞的神经支配模式 在开发过程中通过基于 它们的自发爆裂模式。特定目标1解决的是什么细胞 相互作用发生在视网膜内部，以产生不同的自发活动 在发育的适当时期，神经节细胞的打开和关闭模式。 由GABA和谷氨酸介导的相互作用将使用 电生理和钙成像技术。具体目标2是 确定On和Off的爆发性节律之间的时间关系 细胞，并调查它们的活动模式中的哪些信息可以 隔离它们的连接。开启和关闭之间的关联活动 神经节细胞将通过细胞外记录从成对的 细胞。建模技术将被用来测试和预测自发性 ON和OFF神经节细胞中的模式可以指定ON和OFF视网膜生成 连通性。

DESCRIPTION (Adapted from applicant's abstract): Determining how neuronal connections become highly organized early in life is fundamental to understanding of how the nervous system develops. Precise patterns of neural connections emerge during development as inappropriate connections are eliminated, and appropriate ones are maintained. This competitive process is driven by neuronal activity such that cells that "fire together, wire together." Connectivity in many parts of the developing visual system undergo restructuring through processes driven by action potential activity from the retina, even before the onset of vision. This proposal addresses the role of spontaneous periodic bursting activity in establishing functionally discrete projections from the retina to its central targets in the ferret. Specifically it focuses on how the innervation patterns of ON and OFF retinal ganglion cells are refined during development by mechanisms based on temporal differences in their spontaneous bursting patterns. Specific aim 1 addresses what cellular interactions occur in the inner retina to create distinct spontaneous activity patterns of ON and OFF ganglion cells at appropriate periods in development. Interactions mediated by GABA and glutamate will be investigated using electrophysiological and calcium imaging techniques. Specific aim 2 is to determine the temporal relationship between the bursting rhythms of ON and OFF cells, and investigate what information in their activity pattern could to segregation of their connectivity. Correlated activity between ON and OFF ganglion cells will be examined by recording extracellularly from pairs of cells. Modeling techniques will be used to test and predict how spontaneous patterns in ON and OFF ganglion cells can specify ON and OFF retinogeniculate connectivity.