| Abstract No.: | 201 |
| Country: | Canada |
| | |
| Title: | Molecular Assembly and Plasticity of Hippocampal Synapses |
| | |
| Authors/Affiliations: | Ann Marie Craig,
Brain Research Center, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada |
| | |
| Content: | We study how central neurons form synaptic connections and modify those connections with experience. Our perspective on synaptogenesis and synaptic plasticity is largely from the point of view of the cell biology of the postsynaptic neuron. The molecular composition and thus functional status of each synapse is unique, a consequence of pre- and post-synaptic cell type, stage of development, environmental influences, and history of activity of that synapse. We mainly use cultured hippocampal neurons as a model system. This seminar will focus on two recent areas of research. The first is how different neurexin variants induce clustering of postsynaptic components and function differentially at GABAergic versus glutamatergic synapses. The second is a novel mode of activity-induced translocation of calcium-calmodulin dependent protein kinase II to glutamatergic postsynaptic sites. |
| | |
| Back |
|
