Dr. John Horowitz is continuing a line of experimentation which is designed to understand the neural activity underlying hibernation. He is studying the hippocampus because it is a region of the brain that appears to be involved in the entrance into and arousal from hibernation. By using the hippocampal slice preparation, the temperature of the bathing solution over the hippocampal neural network can be easily precisely set to match any temperature in the range observed in the CNS of animals entering hibernation. One set of experiments centers on the effect of temperature on long-term potentiation (LTP). LTP has captured the imagination of neuroscientists as a model with which to probe the mechanisms of learning and memory in the mammalian brain, but whether these mechanisms persist at low brain temperatures is unknown. Serotonin, a neurotransmitter, has been shown to play a role in an animal's entrance into hibernation. Therefore, the second set of experiments if to determine the effect of temperature on the serotonergic response of hippocampal neurons. This work is important because it will give us more insight into how the brain regulates and operates during low temperature states.
