Nerve cells communicate with one another through specialized junctional structures called synapses. When a nerve cell is active, or “fires,” certain chemicals called neurotransmitters are released at the “pre-synaptic” side of the synapse and diffuse across the junction to act at the “post-synaptic” cell. Several Institute researchers are investigating the details of the critical chemical and physical processes at the synapses. These studies are extremely significant for gaining knowledge about normal functions as well as about disorders and diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s which are caused by irregularities in production of certain neuromodulators.

Several scientists at the Institute collaborate on studying the electrophysiology of synaptic activity in neurons of mice with defects in the fragile X mental retardation (FMR1) gene. Fragile X is the most common cause of inherited mental retardation, and affects about 1 in 3600 males and 1 in 5000 females. However, experiments indicate that the overall electrical properties of neurons such as conductance and firing frequencies, are not changed in these mice. The mice exhibit difficulty in learning average tasks. The deficit in learning is thus likely to be due to changes in the mechanisms modulating the strength of synapses, or synaptic plasticity. Experiments are underway to test this hypothesis.

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