Abstract:
Precise neuronal connectivity in the mammalian neocortex is established through refinement during postnatal development. The primary somatosensory cortex (barrel cortex) in the mouse is a useful model to understand the mechanisms of postnatal activity-dependent circuit maturation. In the mature barrel cortex, the configuration of whiskers on the face is topographically represented as “barrels”, discrete modules of layer 4 neurons and thalamocortical (TC) axon terminals. Spiny stellate neurons (barrel cells), the major type of layer 4 excitatory neurons, located at the barrel edge expand basal dendrites asymmetrically toward the barrel center to form synapses with specific TC axons, which underlies the precise one-to-one functional relationship between whiskers and barrels. These features of the whisker-barrel circuit are established essentially during the first postnatal week in a manner depending on presynaptic TC inputs and postsynaptic NMDA receptor functions. For decades, we have been using the mouse barrel cortex for the study of developmental plasticity by taking several original approaches. In this seminar, I would like to discuss our recent findings by primarily focusing on mechanisms of dendritic refinement of barrel cortex layer 4 neurons.
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https://iu.zoom.us/j/87661619145