Olfactory memory trace formation in Drosophila

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究项目的目标是定义大脑在其组成神经元之间组织不同类型记忆的逻辑。该项目对比了大脑如何组织与奖励线索相关的嗅觉记忆和与厌恶线索相关的嗅觉记忆，并深入研究了一些潜在的机制。该研究项目采用了黑腹果蝇模型系统，因为它很容易使用嗅觉线索来调节果蝇，也因为它有能力窥视活体动物的大脑，观察不同神经元的活动。后一种方法是功能性光学细胞成像，利用携带表达钙内流、突触传递或其他神经元事件报告基因的果蝇，监测表达神经元在条件反射前后神经元反应特性的变化。迄今为止，六种不同的细胞记忆痕迹已经被定义为使用厌恶嗅觉条件反射。这些痕迹在嗅觉神经系统的不同神经元中形成，并以不同的时间动态发生。在嗅觉调节事件发生后，这些神经元内发生的记忆痕迹将与记忆痕迹形成的分子机制一起进行研究。由于几乎每一种神经精神疾病都会影响记忆的形成，这些研究将有助于理解正常大脑和患病大脑中记忆的形成。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of this research project is to define the logic by which the brain organizes different types of memories among its component neurons. The project contrasts how the brain organizes olfactory memories learned in association with a rewarding cue and those learned in association with an aversive cue, and delves into some of the underlying mechanisms. The research project utilizes the model system Drosophila melanogaster because of the ease in conditioning the fly using olfactory cues and because of the ability to peer into the brain of living animals and watch the activity of different sets of neurons. The latter approach, functional optical cellular imaging, employs flies carrying transgenes expressing reporters for calcium influx, synaptic transmission, or other neuronal events, to monitor changes in neuronal response properties among the expressing neurons before and after conditioning. To date, six different cellular memory traces have been defined using aversive olfactory conditioning. These traces form in different sets of neurons in the olfactory nervous system and occur with differing temporal dynamics. The memory traces that occur within these same neurons after a rewarding olfactory conditioning event will be examined along with the molecular mechanisms underlying memory trace formation. Since nearly every neuropsychiatric disorder affects memory formation, these studies will aid in understanding memory formation in the normal brain as well as in the diseased brain.