The Inferior Olive: coupling, oscillations and bursting activity
Year: 2013
Type: dissertation
Abstract: textabstractThe inferior olive is part of the olivo-cerebellar system and it plays a key role becauseit provides one of the major sensory inputs to the cerebellar cortex. For
this reason, we wanted to answer those questions about the physiology of olivary
neurons that still were unanswered. We dedicated our efforts in the first place to
explore the inhibitory input to the IO, namely the nucleo-olivary projection, and
the role GABA plays in re-setting the phase of the subthreshold oscillations (chapter
2). After investigating the inputs of the IO, we focused on the electrotonical
coupling and we explored the pathways that regulate the coupling between olivary
neurons. We determined that the phosphorylation of Cx36 is one of these mechanisms
and we identified that CaMKII and PKA play a role in this pathway, the first
sustaining and the latter reducing the coupling between olivary neurons (chapter 3).
We then focused on the output of the olivary neurons, investigating the variables
that were influencing the bursting activity of olivary neurons. We performed these
experiments in vivo, because we wanted to investigate the relationship between
spikelets and oscillations in an intact network, which was also able to convey somatosensory
information (chapter 4). We could conclude that in our experimental
condition the phase relationship between the phase of the SSTOs and the spikelet count was not present, whereas the amplitude of the SSTOs was determining the
number of the spikelets. We then generated a computer model bridging our in vivo
results with the ones obtained in vitro by Mathy et al. (2009) (chapter 5).
Author: Paolo Bazzigaluppi
Language: English
Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2126969112