PhD Scientific Days 2022

Neurosciences I. (Poster discussion will take place in the Aula during the Coffee Break)

Age-dependent Role of Midline Thalamus in Learning

Előadó neve

Judit, Berczik, MSc

Előadó munkahelye

Research Center for Natural Sciences

Előadó telefonszáma

+36205730996

Előadó e-mail címe

berczik.juc@gmail.com

Az előadás címe

Age-dependent Role of Midline Thalamus in Learning

Szerző(k) neve és munkahelye

Judit Berczik 1,2, Aletta Magyar 1,2, Boglárka Barsy 1, Sándor Borbély 1,3, Anita Kurilla 5, Bálint Szeder 5, Virág Vas 5, László Buday 5, László Szilák 6,7, Ferenc Mátyás 1,4,8

1 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, RCNS, Budapest, Hungary
2 János Szentágothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
3 Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary
4 Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, Budapest, Hungary
5 Szilak Laboratories ltd, Szeged, Hungary
6 Biological Research Center, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Szeged, Hungary
7 Dept. of Anatomy and Histology, Univet, Budapest, Hungary

Bemutatás módja

Poszter

Szekció

Neurosciences I. (Poster discussion will take place in the Aula during the Coffee Break)

Language of the presentation

English

Preferred session

Neurosciences

Összefoglaló szövege

Arousal–dependent cognitive functions like memory processes, sleep-wake cycles and stress management are showing age dependency which is well-documented. The thalamo-frontal network also goes through age-related changes, which could be responsible for these behavioral alterations. However, the underlying neuronal mechanism is poorly understood. Previously, the calretinin (CR)-expressing thalamocortical cells in the midline thalamus (MT) were identified as an important neuronal element for cortical arousal. Furthermore, from MT cells were also proved to modulate associative learning. Here we aimed to clarify the age-dependent role of the CR+MT neurons in fear learning processes. First, we found that the bi-directionally control of CR+MT activity differently altered associative fear learning in young (<6 months old) and aged (>18 months old) mice. MT (most probably the CR+ cell population) provides most of the thalamic brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) for the cortex, which is a key factor in many cognitive functions. Furthermore, the BDNF level in the brain shows age-dependent alteration; thus, we measured the control and the fear conditioning evoked thalamic BDNF levels in young (~5-6 months) and aged mice (~18-24 months). We found that the evoked BDNF levels were shown age -dependency. Notably, both isoform of BDNF (the mature- and the pro-BDNF) levels also increased in the thalamo-frontal circuit of the young but not the old mice.
Taken together, our preliminary research proposes that the dorsal midline thalamic BDNF can be a key regulator for age-dependent changes in learning and in other arousal-related behavior. Currently, we are investigating the age-dependent effect of MT-selective BDNF deletion in various cognitive functions on young (~6 months) and aged (~12 months) mice.

This work was supported by the NAP Program (KTIA-NAP-13-2-2015-0010; 2017-1.2.1-NKP-2017-00002); by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology of Hungary from the National Research, Development and Innovation Fund (FM, FK124434, KKP126998; BS, FK135285); by the Cooperative Doctoral Program (AM, KDP-2020-1015461), by the New National Excellence Program of the Ministry for Innovation and Technology (ÚNKP-19-4-ÁTE-8; ÚNKP-20-5-ÁTE-3). FM is a János Bolyai Research Fellow.

University and Doctoral School

Semmelweis University, János Szentágothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences

Supervisor

Dr. Ferenc Mátyás

Publication of my abstract

I give consent to the publication of my abstract on the website of the congress.

Kind

Szabad

Status

elfogadva

Accepted presentation method

poszter

Előadás fájl jóváhagyás

nem rendelkezett róla

Előadó

6819

Start

12:30

End

12:35

Authors (legacy)

Judit Berczik 1,2, Aletta Magyar 1,2, Boglárka Barsy 1, Sándor Borbély 1,3, Anita Kurilla 5, Bálint Szeder 5, Virág Vas 5, László Buday 5, László Szilák 6,7, Ferenc Mátyás 1,4,8

1 Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Psychology, RCNS, Budapest, Hungary
2 János Szentágothai Doctoral School of Neurosciences, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary
3 Institute of Experimental Medicine, Budapest, Hungary
4 Institute of Enzymology, RCNS, Budapest, Hungary
5 Szilak Laboratories ltd, Szeged, Hungary
6 Biological Research Center, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Szeged, Hungary
7 Dept. of Anatomy and Histology, Univet, Budapest, Hungary