NPP Seminar - Dr Laura Andreae, King's College London

Academic Host: Gareth Morris

Abstract: The role of neuronal activity in the development of neurons and circuits remains controversial. Historically, activity has been seen to be critical for the sculpting of connectivity patterns after the period of synapse formation, often pruning unused synapses and helping to maintain or grow active ones. We now have evidence that a specific type of activity, spontaneous transmitter release, in the past often regarded as simply 'noise', plays a role in synapse formation and the development of dendritic morphology at early stages in the developmental period. Using both in vitro and in vivo approaches in mice to manipulate spontaneous transmitter release and the postsynaptic receptors that detect it, we show that these effects are connection specific in the developing hippocampal circuit. Many of the key synaptic proteins involved are known to be mutated in severe neurodevelopmental disorders, indicating how important these early roles may be in healthy brain development.