The central nervous system (CNS) controls behavior with large networks of neurons processing information in the form of electrical signals passed from one neuron to another via synaptic connections. Each neuron in the CNS receives thousands of excitatory and inhibitory synaptic inputs, most of which are formed on a thicket of fine, branching processes called dendrites. Activation of synaptic inputs results in a change in the membrane potential of the neuron and these synaptic potentials spread, electrically, throughout the dendrite in a process often referred to as "synaptic integration." This integrative process is the fundamental mechanism that individual neurons use to process the information they receive before passing it along to their network partners. Changes in the way individual neurons process synaptic information are likely to constitute the cellular basis of learning.

The goal of the research in my laboratory is to understand the types of integration that occur in neuronal dendrites and how the structure of the dendrites and the various types of ion channels contained in the dendritic membrane carry out the task. We study these processes using patch-clamp recordings from the soma and dendrites of neuronsmaintained in slices of living brain tissue. These recordings can be used to study the properties of both voltage-gated and synaptically activated ion channels. In addition, simultaneous recording from the soma and a dendrite of the same neuron provides information on how voltage changes such as synaptic potentials and action potentials propagate within the neuron. Data obtained from such recordings are also used in computer models incorporating the three dimensional structure of the neuronal dendritic tree. These models allow us to examine which aspects of neuronal structure and ion channel composition are critical in the process of synaptic integration, and to formulate testable predictions for future experiments. Our work also determines how these neuronal properties may change as a function of experience. Such forms of neuronal "plasticity" are widely believed to constitute the cellular basis of learning and memory.

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