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SUMMARY:Lausanne Neuroscience Seminar
DTSTART:20130905T170000
DTEND:20130905T183000
DTSTAMP:20260509T191254Z
UID:97b7ddfbd70c8a0a4de73911dae11e1891486fe3b2ce1c1546455ae4
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Carla J. Shatz\nSurprise at the Synapse: MHC Class I\, Syn
 aptic Pruning and PlasticityAbstract\nConnections in adult brain are highl
 y precise\, but they do not start out that way. Precision emerges during d
 evelopment as synaptic connections remodel in a process requiring neural a
 ctivity (action potentials and synaptic transmission). Activity also regul
 ates neuronal gene expression. In an unbiased screen\, Major Histocompatib
 ility Class I (MHCI) genes were unexpectedly discovered to be in neurons\,
  at synapses and regulated by activity and visual experience (Corriveau et
  al\, 1998). To assess requirements for MHCI in CNS\, mutant mice lacking 
 stable surface expression of all MHCI\, or of specific MHCI genes Kb and D
 b\, were examined. Synapse pruning in developing visual system fails\, and
  ocular dominance (OD) plasticity in visual cortex is greater than in WT (
 Huh et al\, 2000\; Datwani et al\, 2009). In a search for receptors that c
 ould interact with neuronal MHCI\, PirB\, an innate immune receptor\, was 
 found expressed in neurons throughout mouse CNS. In mutant mice lacking Pi
 rB\, OD plasticity is enhanced (Syken et al.\, 2006)\, LTP and LTD are alt
 ered\, and spine density on L Pyramidal neurons is increased. Thus\, PirB\
 , like MHCI\, appears to act to “brake” synaptic plasticity. The commo
 nality of phenotypes present in these mice suggests a model (Shatz\, 2009)
  in which PirB may bind and transduce signals from MHCI ligands in neurons
 . Together\, results imply that this family of molecules\, thought previou
 sly to function only in immunity\, may also act at neuronal synapses to li
 mit how much- or how quickly- synapse strength changes in response to new 
 experience. These molecules may be crucial for controlling circuit excitab
 ility and stability in developing as well as adult brain. Changes in their
  function could contribute to developmental disorders such as Autism and S
 chizophrenia.\nAn aperitif will follow
LOCATION:SV 1717a http://plan.epfl.ch/?lang=fr&room=sv+1717a
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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