Inhibitory projection neurons in olfactory information processing
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Inhibition occurs throughout the nervous system and impacts diverse neuronal processes. In this dissertation, I focus on an inhibitory circuit motif in the Drosophila olfactory system, parallel inhibition, which differs from the classical feed-forward or feedback inhibition. The Drosophila excitatory and GABAergic inhibitory projection neurons (ePNs and iPNs) each receive input from antennal lobe glomeruli and send parallel output to the lateral horn, a higher-order brain center implicated in regulating innate olfactory behavior. By incorporating in vivo two-photon calcium imaging, advanced fly genetics and optogenetic methods to manipulate and record neuronal activity, we find that iPNs selectively suppress food-related odorant responses but spare signals from pheromone channel stimulation when using specific lateral horn neurons as an olfactory readout. Co-applying food odorant does not affect pheromone signal transmission, suggesting that the differential effects likely result from connection specificity of iPNs, rather than a generalized inhibitory tone. Calcium responses in the ePN axon terminals show no detectable suppression by iPNs, arguing against presynaptic inhibition as a primary mechanism. The parallel inhibition motif may provide specificity in inhibition to funnel specific olfactory information, such as food and pheromone, into distinct downstream circuits.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2013 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Liang, Liang, (Neuroscientist) |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Luo, Liqun, 1966- |
| Primary advisor | Schnitzer, Mark Jacob, 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Luo, Liqun, 1966- |
| Thesis advisor | Schnitzer, Mark Jacob, 1970- |
| Thesis advisor | Deisseroth, Karl |
| Advisor | Deisseroth, Karl |
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Applied Physics. |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Liang Liang. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Applied Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph.D.)--Stanford University, 2013. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2013 by Liang Liang
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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