| Grant number: | 15/22327-7 |
| Support Opportunities: | Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants |
| Start date: | September 01, 2016 |
| End date: | August 31, 2020 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems |
| Principal Investigator: | Alexandra Olimpio Siqueira Cunha |
| Grantee: | Alexandra Olimpio Siqueira Cunha |
| Host Institution: | Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirão Preto (FMRP). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Ribeirão Preto , SP, Brazil |
| City of the host institution: | Ribeirão Preto |
| Associated researchers: | Norberto Garcia Cairasco ; Ricardo Mauricio Xavier Leão |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 19/18428-3 - Morphological alterations of neurons from the central nucleus of inferior colliculus in Wistar and war strains submitted to repetitive sound stimulation,
BP.IC 16/18226-3 - The role of inferior colliculus as an integrative structure for auditory information and as a site for initialization and spread of audiogenic seizures: an eletrophysiological and morpho-functional study, BP.JP |
Abstract
Virtually all auditory information arrives in inferior colliculus in a tonotopic manner from primary auditory structures, as well as from prosencephalic structures such as: thalamus, amygdala and auditory cortex. Intracollicular circuits integrate the received information and send projections to extracollicular ascendant and descendant pathways. The hyper activation of collicular circuits is apparently involved in the seizures observed upon a high intensity sound stimulus. The so called audiogenic seizures may occur in susceptible animals; generally rodents genetically selected and basically consist of the hyper-activation and hyper-synchronization of groups of neurons. Interestingly, the repetition of the sound stimulus may lead to the spread of the epileptiform activity to limbic areas, leading to behaviour and electroencephalographic alterations similar to those observed in models of temporal lobe epilepsy. The WAR strain (Wistar audiogenic rat) is greatly susceptible to audiogenic seizures and can be used to assess circuits involved with the genesis of the seizures in auditory brain stem and recruitment of limbic areas. Therefore, and based on the major role of inferior colliculus in auditory processing in general, our hypothesis is that specific intracollicular circuits are capable of generate and spread epileptiform activity when hyper-activated. Thus, the present study aims at the investigation of alterations in neuronal membrane properties, synaptic plasticity, intrinsic and extrinsic connectivity and auditory processing of neurons and pathways to and from inferior colliculus using whole cell patch clamp in vivo and optogenetics. The importance of this study is based mostly on the lack of data on intracollicular circuits, as well as in the continuous need for knowledge in neuronal processing that lead to epileptiform activity during epileptic seizures. (AU)
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