Astrocyte, Phagocytosis, Medial prefrontal cortex, Synapse, Working memory
Table Of Contents
I. INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Medial prefrontal cortex and its roles in cognitive functions 1 1.2 Astrocytic phagocytosis mechanisms and their roles in synapse refinement 1 1.3 Possible roles of astrocytic phagocytosis in mPFC circuit homeostasis 2 II. MATERIALS AND METHODS 3 2.1 Animals 3 2.2 AAV stereotaxic injection 3 2.3 Whole cell patch clamp 3 2.4 Delayed-Non-Match-to-Place (DNMTP) Task 4 2.5 Immunohistochemistry 5 2.6 Analysis of confocal image 5 2.7 Statistical analysis 5 III. RESULTS 6 3.1 Mouse model for downregulating astrocytic phagocytosis mechanisms in the adult mPFC 6 3.2 Normal spontaneous excitatory synaptic transmission by astrocytic Megf10/Metrk KO 7 3.3 Normal spontaneous inhibitory synaptic transmission by astrocytic Megf10/Metrk KO 9 3.4 Normal excitatory synaptic structures in the mPFC with impaired astrocytic synapse phagocytosis 11 3.5 Normal inhibitory synaptic structures in the mPFC with impaired astrocytic synapse phagocytosis 13 3.6 Role of astrocytic synapse phagocytosis in mPFC-dependent working memory formation 16 IV. DISCUSSION 21 4.1 Possibility of synapse elimination through other mechanisms 21 4.1.1 Another phagocytic receptor-mediated synapse elimination in astrocyte 21 4.1.2 Microglia-mediated synapse elimination 22 4.1.3 Neuronal activity-dependent competition 22 4.2 Possibility of mPFC sub-region or layer-specific manner 23 V REFERENCE 24