Dear All

I would like to cordially invite you for our next Institute’s Seminar on Thursday, 10^th of June at 3pm. Dr. Tomasz Wójtowicz, from the laboratory of Cell Biophysics led by Prof. Jakub Włodarczyk, will present his habilitation lecture entitled: The role of selected matrix metalloproteinases subtypes in the functional plasticity of hippocampal neurons.

Abstract

In the central nervous system (CNS), several forms of experience-dependent plasticity, learning, and memory require the activity-dependent control of synaptic efficacy. Despite substantial progress in describing synaptic plasticity, mechanisms related to the heterogeneity of synaptic functions at local circuits remain elusive.

In the past decade, the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) has been implicated as a critical factor in this process. Yet, the functional consequences of MMPs activity in shaping neuronal circuits remained largely unexplored. Therefore we have combined electrophysiological recordings, pharmacology, and imaging of hippocampal circuits to address this issue. In this lecture, I will discuss the experimental data implying the differential role of MMP subtypes in temporal phases of long-term synaptic potentiation and synapse-specificity of this phenomenon. We have recently discovered two types of excitatory synapses in the hippocampus that use strikingly different strategies to control synaptic gain with regard to MMPs and intracellular cascades and identified their key elements. In addition, we have found that only certain patterns of presynaptic activity may lead to MMP-dependent long-term plasticity. Most importantly, circuit plasticity is also involving non-synaptic changes, such as the scaling of neuronal excitability. The activity of MMPs, particularly MMP-3, may contribute to the magnitude of EPSP-to-spike coupling in the CA1 and CA3 hippocampal network and may thus affect information processing. Our data provide a novel link between MMP activity and neural excitability. By limiting the number of firing neurons, MMPs may functionally act beyond the synapse.

Nencki Seminar

https://zoom.us/j/96617290469?pwd=aEpqc25rc1JKZFVBRVFZM0h1ZzA2Zz09

Meeting ID: 966 1729 0469
Passcode: 316107

Best regards,
Aleksandra Pękowska