Signaling Pathways in Postsynaptic Differentiation

University Of Arizona, Tucson AZ

Investigators

Abstract

0080843 Gordon The functioning of the nervous system depends on an intricate network of connections between cells. Much of the communication occurs at tiny physical contacts between cells called synapses. How molecular components of synapses come to be organized together is an important problem within neuroscience. The current project will examine how influences from motor neurons direct the localization of synaptic molecules on muscle cells. It is hypothesized that calcium channels on the muscle cells mediate the signaling from the neurons and that local entry of calcium through these channels directs the local accumulation of synaptic molecules. In order to test this hypothesis, muscle cells in tissue culture will be stimulated with signaling molecules derived from neurons, and the calcium channels will be manipulated with pharmacological agents. Both local calcium entry and the local accumulation of synaptic molecules will be assayed. The results of the proposed work will further our understanding of the molecular signaling mechanisms that control the formation, maintenance, and modulation of synapses. Synapses provide the nervous system with something akin to what transistors provide computers, pathways of communication that can be modulated to obtain different results. As such, an understanding of how synapses can be modulated has profound implications for learning and memory.