Project Details
Projekt
The role of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors for the development of auditory brainstem circuits involved in temporal processing of sounds
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Ursula Koch
Subject Area
Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells
Term
from 2012 to 2015
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 218325588
Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are widely expressed in the developing and adult brain and have been mainly associated with plastic changes of neural circuits and with regulating sensory information processing. In sensory cortices the a7 containing nAChR is the predominant form during the critical period when map formation occurs. Artificially increasing nAChR activity in these areas extends the critical period. a7 containing nAChRs are also strongly and transiently expressed in the auditory brainstem during the period of hearing onset. However, little is known about the function of nAChRs in these nuclei, where the temporal analysis of sound signals is achieved by the integration of excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Enhancing nAChR activity by nicotine exposure during development leads to impaired processing of temporal acoustic information. In the proposed project we aim to define a functional role of nAChRs for the developing auditory brainstem. With a combination of toxin receptor labeling and whole-cell electrophysiology in acute brain slices, we will identify the anatomical location of the receptors and investigate the physiological effect of nAChR activity for modulating synaptic transmission and integration during this period. With a genetic and pharmacological approach we ask whether long-term manipulation of a7- nAChR activity during development alters the properties of these neural circuits that analyze the temporal sound pattern. Whether this leads to deficits in temporal sound analysis in the respective nuclei will be addressed in future studies.
DFG Programme
Priority Programmes
