Title:
Spatio-temporal mechanisms regulating sensory system formation during development.

Hiroshi Kawasaki
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Medicine , The University of Tokyo

Abstract:
The sensory systems such as the visual and somatosensory systems are widely used for investigating neuronal circuit formation, plasticity and critical periods during development. Although the mechanisms underlying spatial pattern formation of neuronal circuits have been intensively investigated, those underlying temporal regulation still remain elusive. Therefore, using the somatosensory barrel cortex of mice, we examined what triggers neuronal circuit formation during development. We found that the birth of pups instructively regulates the initiation of barrel formation. Interestingly, neither sensory map formation in the thalamus nor the critical period termination of barrel structural plasticity was regulated by birth. The regulation by birth seemed to affect the initiation, rather than speed, of barrel formation. Our findings uncover a hitherto unrecognized role of birth in cortical development. I will also present our recent data regarding molecular pathways connecting birth and barrel formation.