SYNINTMEMORY · Behavioural roles for synaptic integration
6РП — Действия „Мария Кюри“
- Период
- 2006-10-01 → 2008-09-30
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 80 000 €
- Участници
- 1
- Схема
- IRG
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Биологичните механизми на епизодичната памет се изследват чрез влиянието на гена HCN1 върху нервните клетки при мишки. Разбирането на тези процеси помага за установяване на биологичната основа на психичните функции и подобряване на психичното здраве.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Final Activity Report Summary - SYNINTMEMORY (Behavioural roles for synaptic integration)
Mental health is of great importance to individuals and societies. Yet, we lack a basic understanding of the biological basis for most mental functions and as a result it is difficult to adopt rational strategies to improve mental health. The project funded by this Marie Curie Re-integration award addresses the biological mechanisms of episodic memory, the basic mental process through which facts and events are stored and retrieved. The award has enabled the principal investigator to set up an independent research group following return to Europe after carrying out postdoctoral training in the United States. The project focuses on development of new tools and behavioural methods for investigation of computations carried out by nerve cells during storage and retrieval of memories. The major achievements are in three areas: 1. We have established new behavioural tasks for evaluation in mice of cognitive processes that rely on memory. 2. We have found evidence for deficits in the performance of mice with forebrain restricted deletion of the HCN1 gene, which encodes an ion channel important for neuronal responses to synaptic activation. 3. We have established techniques for local manipulation of HCN1 expression in vivo using viral vectors. Advances made by the principle investigator during the project have been published in major international journals. The new tools and methodological approaches developed are likely to form the basis for considerable future work by the principal investigator's research group.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
Neurons in the brain integrate information from thousands of synaptic inputs into a single axonal output. Yet, we understand little of how synaptic integration influences cognitive processes, including learning and memory.Recently, I found that deletion from forebrain neurons of HCN1 channels, which are important for synaptic integration, enhances spatial memory, suggesting that HCN1 channels may constrain memory processes. This raises a fundamental question: Is the primary function of HCN channels to constrain memory, or does expression of HCN1 channels confer some behavioural advantage at the expense of memory?The experiments that I now propose to address this question use behavioural pradigms based on spontaneous novelty recognition in an open arena and on rewarded identification of a goal location in a radial maze. Initial experiments will use mice with forebrain-restricted deletion of HCN1 channels. Later experiments will focus on the paradigm that reveals the most profound phenotype and will investigate more localized manipulations of forebrain areas, using viruses to knock-down or turn off expression of HCN1 channels in restricted populations of neurons.By enabling dissociation of the influence of HCN1 channels on different components of information processing underlying memory storage and recall, the proposed project will develop new principles for understanding the roles of HCN1 channels and synaptic integration in episodic memory. This may suggest new experimental strategies to investigate common psychiatric and neurological disorders that are increasingly recognized to involve disruptions to the integration of information, for example schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy.The proposed project will contribute to European re-integration by enabling me on my return to Europe to carry out high-quality research exploring the molecular basis of memory and by assisting me in developing an internationally competitive research programme.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH · EDINBURGHКоординаторОбединеното кралство
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз