Project Summary

Takuya Takahashi, M.D., Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, plans to study if experience and learning can move the location of certain receptors from inside of a neuron to the synapse in the cortex of a developing brain. Deficits in information processing, such as learning and memory, have been found in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and autistic disorders. To elucidate the cognitive deficits of schizophrenia, it is important to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms of information processing in vivo. Long-term-potentiation (LTP), the long lasting enhancement of synaptic strength induced by stimuli of glutamate synapses, is believed to have important roles in learning and memory. One possible mechanism of LTP expression is the rapid delivery of functional AMPA-type glutamate receptors to synapses from non-synaptic sites. This view has now been demonstrated in a number of in vitro experiments. By combining in vivo viral mediated gene delivery technique and in vitro electrophysiology, Dr. Takahashi has recently shown that experience can drive AMPA receptors in the developing barrel cortex. Here, Dr. Takahashi asks if the experience-dependent delivery of AMPA receptors is developmentally regulated by testing slightly older animals.

Program Area: MULTIPLE FOCUS AREAS\Autism/Schizophrenia

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