Research
The ability to store and consciously recall past experiences is crucial for survival and establishing a coherent sense of reality. This ability in mammals is dependent on the hippocampal formation, which encodes experience through coordinated neuronal activity. We want to dissect the cellular mechanisms underlying hippocampus' ability to acquire and recall memories. We use intravital optical imaging to study neuronal plasticity and experience representation in the hippocampus of live mice performing learning tasks. We take advantage of molecular and genetic tools to investigate defined synapses and manipulate activity of specific neuronal populations. Together these tools enable us to investigate the interplay between cellular events and learning in the hippocampus going from molecular mechanisms to network-level computation.
The ability to store and consciously recall past experiences is crucial for survival and establishing a coherent sense of reality. This ability in mammals is dependent on the hippocampal formation, which encodes experience through coordinated neuronal activity. We want to dissect the cellular mechanisms underlying hippocampus' ability to acquire and recall memories. We use intravital optical imaging to study neuronal plasticity and experience representation in the hippocampus of live mice performing learning tasks. We take advantage of molecular and genetic tools to investigate defined synapses and manipulate activity of specific neuronal populations. Together these tools enable us to investigate the interplay between cellular events and learning in the hippocampus going from molecular mechanisms to network-level computation.
How does CA1 pyramidal neuron's synaptic plasticity enable learning and recall?
How does CA1 pyramidal neuron's synaptic plasticity enable learning and recall?
We implant a glass guide tube just dorsal to the hippocampal alveus to image CA1 dendritic spines in live mice.
It is widely assumed that synapses are a basic substrate of memory. While in neocortex, two-photon imaging is casting light on the relationship between learning and synaptic turnover, such a relationship is still obscure in the hippocampus. We want to establish a direct link between synaptic plasticity and learning in the hippocampal CA1 of live animals, and to examine how stress influences this function through some of its established molecular mediators. To this aim we use optical imaging of dendritic spines in the basal aspect of hippocampal CA1 (Attardo et al., 2015; Ulivi et al., 2019 and Castello-Waldow et al., 2020) to investigate long-term synaptic turnover in live animals learning to perform a memory task that requires the hippocampus.
It is widely assumed that synapses are a basic substrate of memory. While in neocortex, two-photon imaging is casting light on the relationship between learning and synaptic turnover, such a relationship is still obscure in the hippocampus. We want to establish a direct link between synaptic plasticity and learning in the hippocampal CA1 of live animals, and to examine how stress influences this function through some of its established molecular mediators. To this aim we use optical imaging of dendritic spines in the basal aspect of hippocampal CA1 (Attardo et al., 2015; Ulivi et al., 2019 and Castello-Waldow et al., 2020) to investigate long-term synaptic turnover in live animals learning to perform a memory task that requires the hippocampus.
How do CA1 neuronal representations develop and change with learning and stress?
How do CA1 neuronal representations develop and change with learning and stress?
We use head-mounted wide field microscopes to image the activity of hundreds of CA1 pyramdal neurons in freely-moving mice.
Excitatory and inhibitory neurons represent spatial and non-spatial information by their activity patterns in hippocampal CA1. How do these patterns emerge? What is their function during learning and recall? How does stress change them? To answer these and more questions we use microscopes that can be permanently mounted on the mouse head to record activity of hundreds of CA1 neurons as mice perform hippocampal-dependent memory tasks.
Excitatory and inhibitory neurons represent spatial and non-spatial information by their activity patterns in hippocampal CA1. How do these patterns emerge? What is their function during learning and recall? How does stress change them? To answer these and more questions we use microscopes that can be permanently mounted on the mouse head to record activity of hundreds of CA1 neurons as mice perform hippocampal-dependent memory tasks.