IFIBYNE   05513
INSTITUTO DE FISIOLOGIA, BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y NEUROCIENCIAS
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Looking for neuronal substrates of memory
Autor/es:
YANIL HEPP; FREUDENTHAL R,; HECTOR MALDONADO; MARIA EUGENIA PEDREIRA
Lugar:
Bahia Blanca, Argentina
Reunión:
Workshop; Neuronal Communication. Freom structure to physiology; 2008
Institución organizadora:
Sociedad Argentina de investigacion en Neuroquimica
Resumen:
A topic of interest in neurosciences is to determine the function of different areas of the nervous system during memory formation. In different vertebrate models the technique employed aimed to this subject consists of the use of microinjections of neurotoxic drugs as the glutamatergic agonist ibotenic acid that causes neuronal destruction in the injection area. My project is focus on the development of a local microinjection technique in an invertebrate model of memory. In our laboratory we have been developing pharmacological experiments carried out in the model of associative context-signal long term memory in the Chasmagnathus granulatus crab. These experiments consist of the systemic administration of different drugs which allow us to discern the molecular events that underlie consolidation, reconsolidation and extinction. Therefore, the local microinjections technique allows us to administrate neurotoxic drugs in areas on the nervous system of the crabs which are potentially involved in memory processes. The first step consists of setting up a stereotaxic map of the nervous system of the crab. Until now, the results show that it would be possible to generate a coordinates system of reference for the eyestalks and the supraesophageal ganglion of the crab. The references of this coordinates system are external anatomical features as the pseudopupil, the ommatidial edge, the cuticle and the exoskeleton frontal plaque. By confocal microscopy after microinjections with propidium iodide in the selected area, it could be possible to determine the injection area and to know the scope of the injection in the afected area. By immunohistochemistry we observe an NMDA like receptor signal with a broad distribution all over the structures analyzed. Therefore, the ibotenic acid microinjection will give us the opportunity to perform localized lesions and to design experiments aimed to establish a correlation between the zones injured and the behavioral changes observed.