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SUMMARY:Molecular control of visual cortical plasticity - Tommaso Pizzorus
 so 1\,2.   1.Istituto Neuroscienze CNR\, Pisa 2.Dipartimento di Psicologia
 \, Università di Firenze
DTSTART:20090402T080000Z
DTEND:20090402T084500Z
UID:TALK17654@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anna Di Pietro
DESCRIPTION:Our lab has been investigating several factors regulating ocul
 ar dominance plasticity in the visual cortex. Our initial work revealed th
 at Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (CSPG) removal from the adult visual 
 cortex by means of intracortical infusion of chondroitinase ABC (chABC) ac
 tivates mechanisms of  ocular dominance plasticity in the adult rat visual
  cortex. These results led to the demonstration that chABC promotes recove
 ry from amblyopia in the adult rat. We have now found that chABC treatment
  facilitates functional recovery from experimental stroke in adult rats su
 ggesting that regulation of extracellular matrix composition represent a c
 ommon factor regulating cortical plasticity. \nCSPGs are diffusely present
  in the brain extracellular space but they are also condensed in perineuro
 nal nets. We will discuss recent data showing the involvement in ocular do
 minance plasticity of specific molecular components of the perineuronal ne
 ts and matrix metalloproteases. \nPlasticity mechanisms also require the a
 ctivation of intracellular signaling. We previously reported that ERK sign
 aling and histone acetylation (Putignano et al.\, 2007) are important sign
 aling mechanisms for ocular dominance plasticity. We will discuss these da
 ta including new findings showing that pharmacological activation of histo
 ne acetylation can promote behavioral recovery from the effects of monocul
 ar deprivation in rats. \n
LOCATION:Cripps Court\, Magdalene College
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