Cellular NeuroPhysiology Projects

Cellular Neurophysiology Projects

Contact: Stefano Taverna (Team leader)

We will investigate cellular and network mechanisms underlying epileptogenic phenomena induced pharmacologically in the intact brain of the guinea pig. The studies will focus on the role of cortical inhibitory interneurons during the initial phase of ictal seizures in the entorhinal cortex and in the hippocampus.

Cellular Neurophysiology Projects

Contacts: Pietro Baldelli (Senior Collaborator).

A common way to explain seizures is the disruption of the normal balance between excitatory and inhibitory input. Increasing evidence showed that epileptogenetic processes transform a normal neuronal network in a hyperexcitable network through multiple mechanisms of altered synaptic and intrinsic plasticity.

Cellular Neurophysiology Projects

Contacts: Paolo Medini (Team leader).
The focus of the group is the synaptic basis of experience-dependent plasticity in vivo, using the visual system as a model system. The cerebral cortex is composed of columns containing different types of neurons organized in different layers and connected in precise ways. We use intrinsic signal-targeted patch clamp and two-photon calcium imaging in vivo, to investigate the role of inhibitory and excitatory neurons of different cortical layers in the plastic modifications of the cortical circuitry observed after manipulations of the sensory environment during development or after cortical lesions.

Cellular Neurophysiology Projects

Contacts: Tommaso Fellin (Team leader).

Neuron-glia interaction

It is now clear that astrocytes are more than the traditional supportive cells providing only structural and metabolic support to neurons.