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Getting to know our community: What brain region do you study?


Charise White

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Charise White

Hi everyone,

I would like to get to know people exploring this community. Will you share the brain region you study? I study the hippocampus.

Cheers,
cw14

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I did my PhD many years ago on the locus coeruleus and all the raphe nuclei. After that I worked on the substantial nigra and striatum and cholinergic regions. For many years I depended on cholinergic cell cultures as a means to study antibodies in the serum of dementia patients. I also worked on the gerbil hippocampus to investigate the effects of ischemia and to test the potential of a novel neuroprotective drug. I have lots of experience with the developing rat brain as well as microglia and astrocytes.

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For me its the amygdala, the engine of the brain, and all of cortex. Almost any brain region can be interesting because they are all interconnected.

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Hi!
I used to study the reunions nuclei in thalamus (spatial memory) but now I am looking in V1 and LGN (attention). As much as V1 and LGN have been fun, I plan to return to thalamus if I am able to open my own laboratory because I find it more fascinating. Good thread, thanks for posting.

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  • 2 months later...
Charise White

Great, it is good to know that among us we study quite a few different regions. Anyone else care to respond?

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Charise White

It is really great to learn what region you all are studying. Does anyone study or have an interest in learning about the evolution of the mammalian brain? How did the regions converge or diverge, then ultimately integrate into an amazing organ; and where is it going in the future?

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I would think that the retina is among the oldest neuronal regions, and I am curious about the evolution of the brain, one aspect being primary neurotransmitters. What are the primary neurotransmitters in the retina?

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By volume alone, glutamate, as it is for much of the brain. However, retinal amacrine cells (of which there are many subtypes) have been known to secrete dopamine, acetylcholine, glycine, GABA, serotonin, and adenosine (plus neuropeptides).

You can find more info on the retina through webvision, which is a well-written and detailed source of information on various aspects of the retina. I’ve added in the URL below for their article on retinal neurotransmitters.

http://webvision.med.utah.edu/book/part-iv-neurotransmitters-in-the-retina-2/part-iv-neurotransmitters-in-the-retina/

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Deborah Zelinsky

Processing of visual and auditory systems use spatial and temporal information.
When head posture is rotated or the chin is tipped up or down, the eyes reflexively move and shift the “chunk” of surrounding space from which sensory information is processed. In other words, if you are looking down, you have fewer visual cues and less visual space to deal with than if you point your eyes upward and outward. Looking at a teacher requires the filtering out of peripheral information. Looking at a book requires less filtering out.

As an optometrist whose work emphasizes neuro-development, glasses can be used to reflexively shift head posture.
Light can be angled from above or below or from the side. That induces a head posture change and varies auditory and visual localization abilities.

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Deborah Zelinsky

Hi Dr Hass!

Most people think of how eyeglasses affect the eyesight in the environment. They forget that the glasses have a direct effect on endocrine functions and other subcortical reactions. The retina is part of the CNS, and some signals from the optic nerve travel directly to the hypothalamus and the amygdala.

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Dhass,

I will take a look at the link you provided. These amacrine cells sound pretty unique. Are they excitatory, inhibitory, or both? Does a single amacrine cell make multiple neurotransmitters or is it a population effect?

I primarily study the hippocampus, where at maturity, excitatory neurons make glutamate and inhibitory neurons make GABA, so the concept of a neuron or brain region expressing so many neurotransmitters is a bit mind-blowing. Could these be the primordial neurons that seeded the other brain regions’ evolution?

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For the most part, I think that amacrine cells are inhibitory, though there are some subtypes which break the mold. One type (starbust amacrine cell), uses both acetylcholine (excitatory) and GABA (inhibitory), though I am sure that the array of neurotransmitters I mentioned earlier are segregated in different populations, and may possibly act over different developmental stages.

Yeah-The retina is certainly a special place with several different kinds of unique biology for sure, but I know there are other areas with an array of neurotransmitters.

There are some people who work down the hall from me that study circuitry in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus and the nucleus of the solitary tract. I’m pretty sure that the connections in that circuit include glutamate, GABA, glycine, norepinephrine, and serotonin at least.

If anything, I’m now curious how the hippocampus can serve it’s central function with only two small-molecule neurotransmitters! Of course we are leaving out neuroactive peptides…

As for the evolution stuff, I am sure that I don’t know a thing about it! Something seems instinctively wrong about things starting in the retina and branching out to the brain, but I’m not sure why. The retina is probably older than (in terms of evolution) many other regions of the brain, but I can’t really think of any animal that has a retina but no brainstem.

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Deborah Zelinsky

Dr. Hass, if you are studying neuroprotective mechanisms for glaucoma, then you are very familiar with the ipRGC cells. When eyeglasses are prescribed, the lenses affect the ipRGCs. The lenses alter brain chemistry!

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Hi Deborah,

I’m not a Dr. yet, so you can call me Dan/Mr. if you want (I prefer Dan). For me, saving ipRGCs is no more or less important than any other RGC, given that I’d like to save them all. Interesting point though–how do eyeglasses specifically affect ipRGCs? I was always taught that they sent more of a yes/no signal which told the brain if there is or isn’t light around. As for affecting brain chemistry, I would argue that the very act of vision alters brain chemistry, and that lenses probably alter brain chemistry in a more helpful way.

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