Eric Hanse

SYNAPTIC PLASTICITY IN THE DEVELOPING AND DEGENERATING BRAIN

Group members

Ilse Riebe, PhD, Postdoc
E-mail: ilse.riebe@physiol.gu.se
Tel.: +46 31-786 3722

Pontus Wasling, PhD, MD, Postdoc
E-mail: pontus.wasling@physiol.gu.se
Tel.: +46 31-786 3505 

Andreas Björefeldt, PhD student
E-mail: andreas.bjorefeldt@physiol.gu.se
Tel.: +46 31-786 3729

Joakim Strandberg, PhD, Postdoc
E-mail: joakim.strandberg@physiol.gu.se
Tel: +46 31-786 3516

Marta Perez Alcazar, PhD, Postdoc
E-mail: marta.perezalcazar@neuro.gu.se
Tel.: +46 31-786 3729

Activity-dependent changes in synaptic transmission, synaptic plasticity, is the basis for proper development of the brain as well as for learning in the mature brain. If synaptic plasticity does not function properly, or is expressed in the wrong context, the effects are deleterious, as in the case of Alzheimers disease. Using electrophysiology and live cellular imaging we test the hypothesis that synaptic plasticity in the developing and mature brain differ, and that reintroduction of developmental forms of synaptic plasticity may contribute to Alzheimers disease and other pathological conditions in the brain. We compare long-term potentiation/depression and astrocyte-mediated synaptic depression in the developing, mature and Alzheimer brain. We believe that this comparative approach will result in fresh insights in how functional synaptic networks emerge during brain development, in the basis for information storage in mature networks, and in how maladaptive synaptic plasticity may contribute to the pathophysiology of Alzheimers disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

List of publications (PubMed)