Alexandra Digennaro
Pronouns: she/her
Research Mentor(s): Michael Roberts
Co-Presenter:
Research Mentor School/College/Department: Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery / Medicine
Presentation Date: April 20
Presentation Type: Oral5
Session: Session 6 – 4:40pm – 5:30 pm
Room: Breakout room 1
Authors: Alexandra Digennaro, Audrey Drotos, Michael Roberts
Presenter: 4
Abstract
The auditory pathway is important for perceiving communication sounds, and the inferior colliculus (IC) is a key hub in this pathway. The IC is also an important site of synaptic plasticity in the auditory system, however, the mechanisms underlying how this plasticity occurs and its function in the IC remain largely unknown. Synaptic plasticity includes changes in the way neurons communicate based on learning and experience. Recent studies have found synaptic plasticity in the auditory cortex to be mediated by changes in dendritic spines, which are small protrusions on neuron dendrites that receive input from the presynaptic terminals of other neurons. Based on this, changes in spine density and shape might also be indicative of synaptic plasticity in the IC. Within the IC, there are currently three molecularly identifiable classes of cells, one of which are VIP neurons. VIP neurons are glutamatergic stellate cells that have long-range projections and receive inputs from the contralateral IC and the dorsal cochlear nucleus. Our preliminary data show that VIP neurons have dendritic spines, and therefore may play a role in synaptic plasticity in the IC. To better understand this, we first imaged spines in VIP-IRES-Cre x Ai14 mice using confocal microscopy and then reconstructed dendritic trees and spines using a program called Neurolucida. We next classified spines into four shapes (stubby, mushroom, filopodia, and thin spines) and evaluated the types of spines present on VIP neurons. The results from this study will offer a better understanding of the common patterns and types of dendritic spines on VIP neurons, which will pave the way for further studies examining the functions of these dendritic spines and their role in plasticity in the IC.
Biomedical Sciences
