Jina Patel
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: Poster
Session: Session 3 – 1:40pm – 2:30 pm
Room: League Ballroom
Authors: Jina Patel, Luis Rivera-Perez, Michael Roberts
Presenter: 75
Abstract
The auditory system relies on signaling molecules to process how we hear and understand sounds in our environment. One such molecule is vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), a protein that is known to act as a neuromodulator. Previous work from our lab determined that VIP neurons in the inferior colliculus (IC) express the mRNA for this molecule. Furthermore, anatomical studies showed that the medial geniculate (MG), the thalamic relay center for auditory information, expresses VIP receptors, suggesting that the excitability of neurons in this region can be affected by VIP signaling. However, whether or not VIP neurons from the IC release this molecule onto downstream targets in the MG remains unknown. We hypothesize that VIP neurons in the IC are a source of VIP signaling to the MG, affecting auditory processing in this region by changing the excitability of MG neurons. To test our hypothesis, we used surgical procedures to inject a Cre-dependent virus, which encodes a green fluorescence protein (GFP) and limits the expression to VIP neurons in our genetically engineered mouse models, waited 2-3 weeks for the expression of GFP, collected the brain tissue, performed immunofluorescence with an antibody that binds to VIP, and lastly collected data by taking confocal microscopy images of the MG for further analyses. The project aims to find the presence of GFP and VIP proteins in the MG as there will be VIP projections from the IC to the MG. A part of this project includes electrophysiology data where brief applications of the VIP molecule increased the excitability of MG neurons, showing that the presence of VIP can potentially affect processing of signals in this region. This research will elucidate the first identified source of VIP signaling to the MG and can serve a role in determining how microcircuits can be modified during auditory processing to improve hearing loss treatments and treat communication disorders.
Biomedical Sciences
