Properties Of Dendritic Spines And Their Role In Synaptic Plasticity
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$336,767.00
Summary
Connections between nerve cells in the brain often occur onto enlarged protrusions called dendritic spines. This proposal will investigate the properties of dendritic spines, and relate differences in spine properties to synaptic plasticity. This information can be used to better understand and treat neurological disorders associated with spine malfunction, as occur in some forms of mental retardation, and may help with understanding the memory loss that occurs during ageing and dementia.
Neural migration: Which cells advance and which stay behind? This project aims to examine the neural crest cells that colonise the developing gut and to identify why some cells advance while others stay behind to populate a region. Directed cell migration is essential for normal development, including for the nervous system. In most of the migratory cell populations that have been analysed to date, all of the cells migrate as a collective from one location to another. However, there are also mi ....Neural migration: Which cells advance and which stay behind? This project aims to examine the neural crest cells that colonise the developing gut and to identify why some cells advance while others stay behind to populate a region. Directed cell migration is essential for normal development, including for the nervous system. In most of the migratory cell populations that have been analysed to date, all of the cells migrate as a collective from one location to another. However, there are also migratory cell populations that must populate the areas through which they migrate, and thus some cells get left behind while others advance. The planned data are likely to be relevant to other cell populations that also populate the areas through which they migrate, including neural crest-derived melanocytes and Schwann cell precursors.Read moreRead less
A Novel Mechanism For The Maintenance Of Catecholamine Synthesis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$356,250.00
Summary
Stress causes an acute response that prepares us for flight or a fight and an adaptive response that requires days to establish. The catecholamines, including adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine are critical to both the acute and adaptive stress responses. They are secreted from cells at the level of the nervous system and the adrenal gland. We all respond differently to stress and if we do not cope we can become hypertensive or depressed. These pathologies require drug management and the dru ....Stress causes an acute response that prepares us for flight or a fight and an adaptive response that requires days to establish. The catecholamines, including adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine are critical to both the acute and adaptive stress responses. They are secreted from cells at the level of the nervous system and the adrenal gland. We all respond differently to stress and if we do not cope we can become hypertensive or depressed. These pathologies require drug management and the drugs all affect the catecholamine systems. Tyrosine hydroxylase controls catecholamine synthesis and it is activated in both the acute and adaptive phases of the stress response in order to replace catecholamines that have been secreted. Tyrosine hydroxylase is activated by protein phosphorylation in the acute phase and by the synthesis of new tyrosine hydroxylase in the adaptive phase. We have now discovered an additional and novel phase that we refer to as sustained tyrosine hydroxylase activation. This phase spans at least the period between the acute (mins) and adaptive phases (days). It involves the sustained phosphorylation of tyrosine hydroxylase and its mechanism appears to differ from the other two phases. In this project we will answer three questions. Does sustained tyrosine hydroxylase activation: 1 Occur in response to many stimuli and in many catecholamine cell types? 2 Occur by a single mechanism, different to the other phases, in all circumstances? 3 Play a role in the control of blood pressure and depression? This project will provide fundamental data about the mechanisms and consequences of sustained tyrosine hydroxylase activation, which is a part of the stress response not previously discovered. The data may impact on the way we design drugs to control stress responses, including antidepressants and antihypertensives.Read moreRead less
Electrical activity in early enteric neuron development. Intestinal movements and secretion are critical to the good health and nutrition of both humans and animals. These functions are regulated by a large nervous system contained within the intestinal wall, the enteric nervous system. This project will identify how enteric nerve cells develop and how their behaviour influences the development of other enteric nerve cells. This is will provide an important base for more applied research aime ....Electrical activity in early enteric neuron development. Intestinal movements and secretion are critical to the good health and nutrition of both humans and animals. These functions are regulated by a large nervous system contained within the intestinal wall, the enteric nervous system. This project will identify how enteric nerve cells develop and how their behaviour influences the development of other enteric nerve cells. This is will provide an important base for more applied research aimed at developing treatments for diseases like chronic constipation and irritable bowel syndrome. It will also contribute to the growing knowledge about how epigenetic factors can modify genetically programmed development within the nervous system.Read moreRead less
Cell cycle and enteric neuron and glial differentiation. Enteric neurons arise from a very small starting population of precursor (neural crest) cells, most of which emigrate from the hindbrain, and colonise the developing gut. Over a protracted period of time the precursors proliferate and differentiate into glia and many different types of neurons. Cell cycle exit is a critical event in the development of many neuron types, largely because the time at which cells exit from the cell cycle lim ....Cell cycle and enteric neuron and glial differentiation. Enteric neurons arise from a very small starting population of precursor (neural crest) cells, most of which emigrate from the hindbrain, and colonise the developing gut. Over a protracted period of time the precursors proliferate and differentiate into glia and many different types of neurons. Cell cycle exit is a critical event in the development of many neuron types, largely because the time at which cells exit from the cell cycle limits the number of neurons that will be generated. We will determine whether exit from the cell cycle contributes to the differentiation and specification of enteric neurons and glia.Read moreRead less
Cellular bases of enteric neural circuitry underlying gut propulsion. This project aims to investigate the neural bases of behaviour in the mammalian gut. The Enteric Nervous System (ENS) plays a critical role in the propulsion of intestinal contents. This project expects to establish how specific functional classes of enteric neurons control propulsion along the gut. By recording the simultaneous neural activity from hundreds of different functional classes of enteric nerve cells simultaneously ....Cellular bases of enteric neural circuitry underlying gut propulsion. This project aims to investigate the neural bases of behaviour in the mammalian gut. The Enteric Nervous System (ENS) plays a critical role in the propulsion of intestinal contents. This project expects to establish how specific functional classes of enteric neurons control propulsion along the gut. By recording the simultaneous neural activity from hundreds of different functional classes of enteric nerve cells simultaneously, whilst recording intestinal muscle electrical activity and the movements of the gut wall, the project expects to identify which enteric neurochemical classes of neurons generate specific motor patterns along the intestine.Read moreRead less