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| Forschungsgruppe Taschenberger |
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Activity-Dependent and Developmental Plasticity at the Calyx of Held
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Neurons communicate with each other via specialized contacts called synapses. These basic building blocks for neural information processing are not static but highly regulated. The efficacy of signal transfer at individual synaptic connections can rapidly increase and decrease during repetitive use and can be re-adjusted during development and learning. Changes in synaptic strength occur on several time scales and define the dynamic properties of synaptic networks. Elucidating the biophysical mechanisms of plasticity at the level of single synaptic contacts is therefore essential in order to understand the information processing in complex synaptic circuits.
Synaptic strength is controlled by a variety of intra- and extracellular signaling pathways and molecules. In comparison to postsynaptic mechanisms that modulate synaptic strength, our current understanding of the functional properties of presynaptic terminals is still quite limited. The small size of presynaptic terminals in the brain precludes, in most cases, direct measurements from presynaptic compartments. The calyx of Held synapse in the mammalian auditory brainstem is one of the few exceptions to this rule. Because of its giant size, this synapses can be visualized in living tissue using high resolution infrared optics and it is thus relatively easily accessible to patch-clamp recordings. Most of the current work in our lab focuses on this specialized synapse. We use electrophysiological and optical recording techniques to examine its function, plasticity and development.
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Holger Taschenberger
Telefon: +49 (551) 201-1668
Fax: +49 551 201-1688 |
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Email: htasche@gwdg.de
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© 2012, Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Göttingen |
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