Audrey Herman
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Omar Ahmed, Assistant Professor
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Psychology, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts
Presentation Date: Thursday, April 22, 2021
Session: Session 3 (1pm-1:50pm)
Breakout Room: Room 8
Presenter: 5
Abstract
The retrosplenial cortex (RSC) is critical for both navigation & memory but impaired in Alzheimer’s disease. Despite this important role in health and disease, the cellular correlates that enable the RSC to perform these functions are not well understood. Recently, our lab has identified two types of principal neurons in the superficial layers of the RSC: low rheobase (LR) and regular spiking (RS) neurons. LR cells are believed to be important for navigational processing, while RS cells are thought to be involved in the processing of fear memories, among other functions. However, a detailed and extensive morphological analysis of different cell types across all RSC layers is still lacking. Here, we bridge this gap by defining morphological profiles of retrosplenial cells based on high resolution confocal images of individually-labeled neurons. This morphological analysis is then tied to the physiological properties of each labeled cell. Our data reveal important morphophysiological differences across cell types that can shape the specific computations each type of neuron can perform to support the distinct functions of the retrosplenial cortex.
Authors: Audrey Herman, Izabela Jedrasiak-Cape , Omar Ahmed
Research Method: Laboratory Research with Animals
