Abstract

The long term objective of this project is to analyze the sequence of changes that lead to the maturation of the neurotransmitter systems of the cerebral cortex during a critical period of postnatal development when the cortex is subject to systemic and peripheral activity-dependent plasticity. Such plasticity appears to depend in large part on the development of normal neurotransmitter function in the cortex. At every stage of this, there are windows of vulnerability during which perturbations can have long lasting consequences. The immediate aims of the project are focused on the somatosensory cortex of mice and on the inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA and the excitatory neurotransmitter, glutamate. A combination of electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, axonal transport, receptor autoradiography and in situ hybridization histochemistry will be used in normal animals and in animals subjected to perturbations of facial vibrissae in the critical period to chart changes in synapse distribution and gene expression over time.

  Funding Agency

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Program Projects (P01)
Project #
5P01NS030109-02
Application #
3783169
Study Section
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
Budget End
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
1993
Total Cost
Indirect Cost

  Institution

Name
University of California Irvine
Department
Type
DUNS #
161202122
City
Irvine
State
CA
Country
United States
Zip Code
92697

  Publications

Robertson, R T; Baratta, J; Yu, J et al. (2009) Amyloid-beta expression in retrosplenial cortex of triple transgenic mice: relationship to cholinergic axonal afferents from medial septum. Neuroscience 164:1334-46
Robertson, R T; Baratta, J; Yu, J et al. (2006) A role for neurotrophin-3 in targeting developing cholinergic axon projections to cerebral cortex. Neuroscience 143:523-39
Guthrie, Kathleen M; Tran, Amy; Baratta, Janie et al. (2005) Patterns of afferent projections to the dentate gyrus studied in organotypic co-cultures. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 157:162-71
Bunney, William E; Bunney, Blynn G; Vawter, Marquis P et al. (2003) Microarray technology: a review of new strategies to discover candidate vulnerability genes in psychiatric disorders. Am J Psychiatry 160:657-66
Arias, Marianela S; Baratta, Janie; Yu, Jen et al. (2002) Absence of selectivity in the loss of neurons from the developing cortical subplate of the rat. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 139:331-5
Eliason, David A; Cohen, Seth A; Baratta, Janie et al. (2002) Local proliferation of microglia cells in response to neocortical injury in vitro. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 137:75-9
Lee, Yu-Shang; Baratta, Janie; Yu, Jen et al. (2002) AFGF promotes axonal growth in rat spinal cord organotypic slice co-cultures. J Neurotrauma 19:357-67
Tsai, E S; Haraldson, S J; Baratta, J et al. (2002) Basal forebrain cholinergic cell attachment and neurite outgrowth on organotypic slice cultures of hippocampal formation. Neuroscience 115:815-27
Baratta, J; Ha, D H; Yu, J et al. (2001) Evidence for target preferences by cholinergic axons originating from different subdivisions of the basal forebrain. Brain Res Dev Brain Res 132:15-21
Robertson, R T; Annis, C M; Baratta, J et al. (2000) Do subplate neurons comprise a transient population of cells in developing neocortex of rats? J Comp Neurol 426:632-50

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