Cerebellar Circuitry and Plasticity in an Electric Fish

超出所提供的空间。 小脑的神经元回路似乎相对简单且定义明确，但由该回路执行的计算尚不清楚。此外，小脑中突触可塑性的形式已经被确定，可能与运动学习有关，但关于这种可塑性的关键问题仍然没有答案。这项研究的目的是通过对长鳍电鱼独特的小脑的研究来解决小脑电路和可塑性的基本问题。因此，我们可以利用拟鳚科动物小脑的两个特点来研究这些问题：1）拟鳚科动物的浦肯野细胞和小脑输出细胞（哺乳动物的小脑核细胞）相邻，这使得在这两种细胞之间的重要突触上进行整合和可塑性的实验成为可能，而在哺乳动物中则无法进行。2)蒲肯野细胞上的爬行纤维和平行纤维输入的终止区域在鲤科动物中是不同的，并且分离得很好，而在哺乳动物中则不是这样。这种分离有助于确定两个树突区域之间的内在差异，以及确定两个输入如何相互作用以产生突触可塑性。 本研究有两个具体目的：1）确定长鳍电鱼浦肯野细胞和小脑输出细胞的基本突触和内在生理学; 2）确定长鳍电鱼平行纤维和浦肯野细胞突触的可塑性类型。主要的方法将是在体外切片中进行全细胞斑片记录，并结合标记记录的元素进行形态学鉴定。性能现场=

EXCEED THE SPACE PROVIDED. The neuronal circuitryof the cerebellum appears to be relativelysimple and well defined, but the computation performed by this circuitry is not understood. In addition, forms of synaptic plasticityhave been defined in the cerebellum that may be responsiblefor motor learning, but criticalquestions regarding this plasticityare still unanswered. The objective of the proposed research is to address fundamental issues cerebellar circuitry and plasticitythrough a study of the unique cerebellum of mormyridelectricfish. Two features of the mormyrid cerebellum make itwell suitedto address these issues: 1) Purkinjecells and cerebellar output cells (cells of the cerebellar nuclei in mammals) are adjacent to each other in mormyridfish, making possibleexperiments on integrationand plasticityat the important synapse between these two cell types that can not be done in mammals. 2) The regionsof terminationfor climbingfiber and parallel fiber inputs on Purkinjecellsare distinctand well separated in the mormyrid but not inthe mammal. This separation facilitates the determination of intrinsicdifferences between the two dendritic regions and the determination of how the two inputs interactto generate synaptic plasticity. The project has two Specific Aims: 1) to determine the basic synaptic and intrinsicphysiologyof Purkinjeand cerebellar output cells in mormyrid electricfish; and 2) to determine the types of plasticityat parallel fiber and Purkinje cellsynapses in mormyrid electricfish. The primary method will be whole-cell patch recordingin in vitro slices, combined with labelingof recorded elements for morphologicalidentification. PERFORMANCE SITE ========================================Section End===========================================