Emergence of neuronal function in developing visual circuits
Despite the dynamic nature of early neuronal connections in a developing network, even the early nervous system is capable of processing complex sensory stimuli, which controls behaviors critical for the survival of the organism.
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While neural circuits form, sensory inputs have a defining influence on neuronal structure and the formation of appropriate connections between neurons. Our research aims at determining the functional role of visually responsive neurons in the developing brain, and the molecular and cellular mechanisms that guide a neuron towards assuming its functional role.
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GFP expression in optic tectum in 6-day-old zebrafish (anterior is towards bottom).
The visual systems of Xenopus and zebrafish larvae offer unique experimental avenues to address these questions because structure and function of individual neurons and small networks can be imaged in the intact animal, and molecular and genetic tools are available to observe and interfere with neuronal function in vivo.
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Methods comprise custom-built, functional two-photon imaging and in vivo electrophysiology at the sub-cellular, cellular and population scale. Functional studies are aided by the availability of genetic reporters of neuronal class, structure and function in the zebrafish.
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Thus, functional imaging of cellular activity in combination with the unsurpassed resolution of patch-clamp electrophysiology in genetically defined sets of neurons will be used to elucidate the maturation and function of neural circuits in the zebrafish central nervous system.
