This is a basic science proposal designed to use in vitro electrophysiological and optical techniques to further our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms responsible for modulating the activity of synaptic inputs to hilar mossy cells. These unusual excitatory local circuit neurons receive strong glutamatergic, GABAergic, and likely cholinergic innervation from a variety of intrinsic and extrinsic sources. Normal function of mossy cells has been postulated to play a prominent role in information processing and memory formation in the hippocampus, while their loss and/or dysfunction has been implicated in the etiology of temporal lobe epilepsy. Preliminary data indicate that the activity of both inhibitory and excitatory inputs to mossy cells is modulated by depolarization-induced release of endogenous cannabinoids.
Aim 1 of this proposal will provide a complete characterization of cannabinoid dependent signaling initiated by activation of mossy cells, and examine the role of postsynaptic cholinergic receptors in modulating the threshold for endocannabinoid release. Preliminary data has also indicated that presynaptic GABAergic receptors are expressed on some excitatory afferents to hilar mossy cells and further suggested that these receptors are likely subject to tonic inhibition by ambient GABA. Thus, Aim 2 will focus on ambient GABA as a potential modulator of these excitatory afferents and will ultimately determine if there is a useful relationship between endocannabinoid mediated retrograde signaling and inhibitory tone. Finally, Aim 3 will test the hypothesis that endocannabinoid mediated retrograde signaling in this system is impaired by chronic exposure to natural and/or synthetic cannabinoid agonists. These experiments may expose specific neurophysiological mechanisms that are fundamentally involved in regulation of excitability, information processing, and memory formation in the dentate gyrus, and further determine how they are altered over time in a chronic model of drug abuse.
