Identifying mechanisms by which neuron-oligodendrocyte interactions regulate nervous system function and dysfunction using zebrafish as a model

神经回路，即通过突触相互连接的神经元，对大脑功能至关重要，因此，建立回路形成背后的机制以破译它们在疾病中如何失调是很重要的。Czopka实验室最近的研究强调，胶质细胞少突胶质前体细胞（OPCs）在调节视觉回路中发挥作用（Xiao et al., 2022）。他们发现，OPCs调节视网膜神经节细胞（RGC）中枢，缺乏OPCs会导致斑马鱼的RGC异位和扩大，以及行为上的功能缺陷。我的博士研究旨在通过研究OPC在RGC中枢之间的活动依赖性竞争中的作用以及OPC：轴突突触是否稳定RGC轴突，来确定OPC如何调节RGC大小。在斑马鱼中，在OPCs存在和不存在的情况下，表征RGC的前突触，沉默RGC活动，以及干扰OPC：轴突突触将有助于回答这些问题

Neural circuits, neurons interconnected by synapses, are vital for brain function and as such, it is important to establish mechanisms behind circuit formation to decipher how they are dysregulated in disease. Recent research by the Czopka lab has highlighted that the glial cell oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) play a role in regulating visual circuitry (Xiao et al., 2022). They found that OPCs regulate retinal ganglion cell (RGC) arbors, with an absence of OPCs leading to ectopic and enlarged RGCs and functional deficits in the behaviour of Zebrafish. My Phd research aims to establish how OPCs might be regulating RGC size, by investigating OPCs role in activity-dependent competition between RGC arbors and whether OPC:axon synapses stabilise RGC axons. Characterising presynapes of RGCs in the presence and absence of OPCs, silencing RGC activity, and perturbing OPC:axon synapses in the Zebrafish will help answer these questions