Collaborative Research: The Hemo-Neural Hypothesis

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research will test the novel hypothesis that enhanced blood supply to a local brain region impacts neural processing. A key feature of neural circuits is their flexibility, their ability to respond differently (for example, to a sensory stimulus) depending on context. This flexibility allows organisms in general and humans in particular to perform crucial tasks for survival, such as shifting attention. This flexibility is also crucial to brain health: Failures in normal mechanisms of neural dynamics - in the normal ability to shift sensitivity - have been implicated in diseases ranging from epilepsy to schizophrenia. In this project the PIs will test the prediction that changes in blood supply to cortical sensory neurons can modulate their responses to sensory inputs. To test this hypothesis, they will integrate four techniques, bringing together expertise from two laboratories: whole animal electrophysiological and imaging studies to define the effect of changes in blood flow on neural activity and electrophysiological and imaging studies in brain slices to begin to investigate the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. A key feature of the proposed research is development of a novel means of bidirectional blood flow regulation, the viral transfection of light-activated channels into smooth muscle. By constricting or relaxing smooth muscles using directed light, they will expand or contract local cerebral arterioles, regulating blood supply. This method provides an approach independent of the potential confounds of pharmacological intervention. A second key feature of the proposed research is a summer research initiative for Queens College students at MIT. This program will provide a unique opportunity for Queens College students to experience the MIT environment, systematic training in research proposal development, execution of this plan, training in research ethics, and writing a summary for publication.