Olfactory memory trace formation in Drosophila

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目的长期目标是阐明细胞记忆痕迹的性质，其形成的机制，其持续时间，以及它们在果蝇嗅觉神经系统中形成的神经元。最近的进展，在光学成像的神经活动在特定的神经元的苍蝇的大脑允许可视化的嗅觉记忆痕迹的第一次。实验，将延长这些意见提出。气味的触角叶神经活动的完整代表将阐明沿着的变化，在这种代表与条件反射发生。潜在的机制，这些变化的代表，或记忆痕迹，将探测使用突变体和功能失活转基因的表达。将使用这些相同的光学成像技术研究在嗅觉神经系统的其他神经元内发生的幼稚和条件性气味反应，包括嗅觉神经元和蘑菇体神经元。拟议的实验将检测这些记忆痕迹，并提供有关其持久性和特异性的知识条件气味。也将使用突变体和功能失活的转基因来探索形成神经元和蘑菇体神经元记忆痕迹的潜在机制。多巴胺能神经元将非条件刺激传递给蘑菇体神经元的假设将通过检查多巴胺能对非条件刺激和条件刺激的反应来检验。最后，比较细胞的记忆痕迹，形成在嗅觉神经系统中使用厌恶的无条件刺激和食欲的无条件刺激与相同的气味条件刺激。这些实验将大大增加我们对记忆如何形成以及可能干扰正常记忆形成的事件的理解。这将有助于我们了解影响记忆形成的疾病。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goals of this research project are to elucidate the nature of cellular memory traces, the mechanisms underlying their formation, their duration, and the neurons in which they form within the Drosophila olfactory nervous system. Recent advances in optical imaging of neural activity in specific neurons of the fly's brain have allowed for the visualization of an olfactory memory trace for the first time. Experiments that will extend these observations are proposed. The complete representation of odors by neural activity in the antennal lobe will be elucidated along with the changes in this representation that occur with conditioning. The mechanisms underlying these changes in representation, or memory traces, will be probed using mutants and the expression of functionally inactivating transgenes. The naive and conditioned odorant responses that occur within other neurons of the olfactory nervous system, including the DPM and mushroom body neurons, will be studied using these same optical imaging techniques. The proposed experiments will detect these memory traces, and provide knowledge about their persistence and their specificity to conditioned odors. The mechanisms underlying the formation of DPM and mushroom body neuron memory traces will also be probed using mutants and functionally inactivating transgenes. The hypothesis that dopaminergic neurons convey the unconditioned stimulus to mushroom body neurons will be tested by examining dopaminergic responses to unconditioned and conditioned stimuli. Finally, comparisons will be made between the cellular memory traces that form in the olfactory nervous system using aversive unconditioned stimuli and appetitive unconditioned stimuli with the same odor conditioned stimulus. These experiments will significantly increase our understanding of how memories form and the events that can potentially perturb normal memory formation. This will aid in our understanding of the diseases that affect memory formation.