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Oral Abstracts ORAL SESSIONS ORAL 1 Synaptic transmission and excitability I ORAL 2 Neurogenesis, gliosis and tumours ORAL 3 Retina ORAL 4 Auditory system ORAL 5 Enteric nervous system ORAL 6 Alzheimer’s disease ORAL 7 Epilepsy and excitotoxicity ORAL 8 Cognition and behaviour I ORAL 9 New techniques in neuroscience ORAL 10 Motor systems ORAL 11 Brain injury and toxicity ORAL 12 Peripheral sensory systems ORAL 13 Schizophrenia ORAL 14 Autonomic nervous system ORAL 15 Visual system ORAL 16 Stroke ORAL 17 Neurogenesis - basic mechanisms ORAL 18 Cognition and behaviour II ORAL 19 Central mechanisms ORAL 20 Diseases of motor neurons ORAL 21 Neurite outgrowth, synaptogenesis and development ORAL 22 Hypoxia and ischaemia ORAL 23 Brain diseases and inflammatory mechanisms ORAL 24 Drugs and addiction ORAL 25 Neurite outgrowth, synaptogenesis and disease ORAL 26 Synaptic transmission and excitability II ORAL 27 Tauopathies and synucleinopathies ORAL 28 Neuronal cell death Au s t r A l i A n neuroscience so c i e t y An n u A l Me e t i n g • Au c k l A n d • 31 JA n u A r y - 3 Fe b r u A r y 2011 Page 21 Page 28 Au s t r A l i A n neuroscience so c i e t y An n u A l Me e t i n g • Au c k l A n d • 31 JA n u A r y - 3 Fe b r u A r y 2011 ORALS Tuesday ORAL-01-01 ORAL-01-02 FEED-FORWARD AND INTRACORTICAL MECHANISMS INFORMATION PROVIDED BY CORRELATIONS IN STRIATE CORTICAL ORIENTATION SELECTIVITY: BETWEEN PAIRS OF NEURONS IN AREA MT OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY AND COMPUTATIONAL MARMOSET MODELING Solomon S.S., Gharaei S. and Solomon S.G. Vidyasagar T.R., Viswanathan S., Jayakumar J. and Kuhlmann L. ARC Centre of Excellence and School of Medical Sciences, Anderson Dept of Optometry & Vision Sciences, The University of Melbourne. Stuart Building, F13, The University of Sydney. Purpose: The mechanism of orientation selectivity of striate cortical cells has been debated for over 40 years. The highly influential model of excitatory Purpose: Correlations in the firing activity of neurons can increase convergence from geniculate afferents proposed by Hubel & Wiesel or diminish the information they provide. Here we used the method of (J.Physiol.,160, 106) has received both much support and much criticism. Montani et al. (J Neurosci, 27, 2338-48, 2007) to quantify the information Using both experimental and computational approaches, we tested the provided by the correlations between pairs of motion-sensitive neurons possibility whether the well documented biases exhibited by retinal and LGN in the visual cortex. Methods: Extracellular recordings were made with cells to stimulus orientation (Levick & Thibos, Nature 286, 389; Vidyasagar & tetrodes from neurons in the middle-temporal area of anaesthetized Urbas, Exp Brain Res 46, 157) could lead to the sharp selectivity seen in the (sufentanyl forte, 9 µg/kg/hr) male marmosets (n = 7). The stimulus was cortex when acted upon by non-specific intracortical inhibition.Methods: (1) a drifting sinusoidal grating, or the sum of two gratings (a plaid) 120 We applied a variation of a novel protocol of electrical stimulation in the LGN degrees apart, presented at each of 12 directions. We estimated the (Kara et al. (PNAS, 99, 16261) that strongly activated inhibitory circuits in both total information content and its 4 components: information provided LGN and the cortex to study their effects on orientation selectivity of both LGN by neurons independently, information loss due to the similarity of their and striate cells. (2) We studied the activities of simultaneously recorded LGN mean response, information in stimulus-dependent correlations and cells and those in cortex after identifying their locations in optical imaging information in stimulus-independent correlations. Results: Fourty-four maps of orientation domains. (3) We simulated a geniculocotrical connectivity pairs of neurons responded over 10 impulses/s and were used for scheme that assumed excitatory inputs from LGN cells with orientation analysis. Most information was carried by neurons independently (85%) biases acted upon by untuned and tuned suppression. (1) We found Results: and stimulus-dependent correlations provided 20% of the information; that the inhibition caused by the electrical stimulation significantly improved the orientation selectivity of LGN cells, with the orientation sensitivity index information was lost through stimulus-independent correlations (2%), and increasing from 0.37±0.04 to 0.51±0.04 (n=19; Wilcoxon sign ranked test, the similarity in tuning curves (4%). This loss is expected if both reflect p<0.001). (2) Simultaneous recordings from 15 pairs of LGN and striate cells common synaptic inputs. Total information was significantly higher for showed a relationship in their coherence and the degree to which the optimum plaids than gratings, primarily because the independent information orientations of the cortical and geniculate cells were similar. (3) The simulations provided by neurons was higher. Conclusion: While correlations are showed that our model could account for the full range of orientation and spatial prevalent and informative, coding in area MT is weakly synergistic frequency selectivities and length-response functions of first order striate and might be approximated by an assumption that neurons provide cells. Conclusions: These results suggest that even non-specific inhibition independent sources of information. can sharpen geniculate orientation biases to levels seen in the striate cortex and support the model that intra-cortical inhibition could usually provide such sharpening leading to the narrowing of the post-synaptic excitation in the cortex from biased geniculate inputs (Vidyasagar et al, Trends Neurosci,19, 272). ORAL-01-03 ORAL-01-04 PHOSPHORYLATION OF SYNDAPIN I F-BAR DOMAIN DSCAM PROTEINS REGULATE SYNAPTIC IN NERVE TERMINALS REGULATES MEMBRANE SPECIFICITY TUBULATION Millard S.S.1, Lu Z.2, Zipursky S.L.3 and Meinertzhagen I.A.2 1 2 Quan A.1, Xue J.1, Wielens J.2, Smillie K.3, Parker M.W.2, Cousin University of Queensland, School of Biomedical Sciences. Dalhousie M.A.3, Graham M.E.1 and Robinson P.J.1 University, Department of Psychology, Life Sciences Centre. 3Howard 1Cell Signalling Unit, Children’s Medical Research Institute, University Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, of Sydney, Westmead, NSW 2145, Australia. 2Biota Structural Biology School of Biological Chemistry. Laboratory, St Vincent’s Institute, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia. 3Membrane Biology Group, Centre for Integrative Physiology, Purpose: To determine whether the repulsive cell surface proteins, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Dscam1 and Dscam2, play a role in synapse formation. Methods: Serial section electron microscopy was performed on wild type and mutant Syndapin I (PACSIN I) is a synaptically enriched member of the Drosophila melanogaster and the composition of photoreceptor synapses F-BAR (FCH-BIN amphiphysin RVS) family of proteins. It consists of was quantified. Results: Multiple-contact synapses are commonly two functional domains; an N-terminal F-BAR, which can bind to and found in the visual systems of both vertebrates and invertebrates. deform phospholipid membranes, and a C-terminal src homology 3 They are comprised of a single presynaptic terminal that releases (SH3). Syndapin I is an important regulator of activity-dependent bulk neurotransmitter upon a distinct combination of postsynaptic elements. endocytosis (ADBE) of synaptic vesicles (SV), neuron morphogenesis, How these complex synapses are specified is not known. Drosophila and links endocytic vesicles with the actin cytoskeleton. Its function in photoreceptor terminals are presynaptic to a tetrad of postsynaptic ADBE is regulated by a phospho-regulated interaction with dynamin I. elements. Dendrites from L1 and L2 neurons form an obligate pair in Although syndapin I is an in vitro phospho-protein, it is not known to each tetrad. In flies mutant for both Dscam1 and Dscam2, the pairing of be phosphorylated in nerve terminals. Using phosphopeptide analysis L1 and L2 is randomized. 58% of the double mutant synapses (93/161) by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), contained two L1 or two L2 dendrites from the same cell instead of the we identified two phosphorylation sites (Ser-76 and Thr-181) in the L1-L2 pairs observed in wild type (p≤10-12). Conclusion: Dscam1 and syndapin I F-BAR domain in rat brain nerve terminals. Ser-76 and Dscam2 are redundantly required for the strict pairing of L1 and L2 at Thr-181 phosphosites are part of N-CAP motifs of α-2 and α-4 helices postsynaptic tetrads. Given the repulsive nature of Dscam interactions, it respectively in the syndapin I F-BAR structure which are important is proposed that Dscam1 and Dscam2 specify postsynaptic composition for regulating F-BAR homodimer curvature and dimer-dimer filament by excluding two contributions from the same cell.. assembly. Single amino acid mutations of the phosphosites to glutamic acid (Glu), which mimics phosphorylation, reduce or block phospholipid binding and membrane tubulation in vitro, and in cells supporting that these two phosphosites regulate F-BAR function. Surprisingly, these two phosphosites do not regulate syndapin I’s role in ADBE. Rather both sites are essential for the morphological development of primary neurons. To our knowledge, this is the first report of regulation of the membrane tubulation function of a BAR domain of a protein by phosphorylation. Au s t r A l i A n neuroscience so c i e t y An n u A l Me e t i n g • Au c k l A n d • 31 JA n u A r y - 3 Fe b r u A r y 2011 Page 29 ORALS Tuesday ORAL-01-05 ORAL-01-06 TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR ENHANCES THE ESTIMATING SYNAPTIC CONDUCTANCE CHANGES SORTING OF NEUROSERPIN TO THE REGULATED DURING UP AND DOWN STATES SECRETORY PATHWAY To M.1, 2 and Stuart G.J.2 1 2 Robinson S.D.1, Vaidya A.V.1, Christie D.L.1, Miranda E.2, Lomas D.A.3 Department of Human Physiology, Flinders University.
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