Project Update February 2021

I learned to extract the chick brains and to prepare hippocampal brain slices from it for electrophysiological experimentation with different pharmacological compounds. Using these techniques, I have undertaken my first set of experiments in vitro where I have successfully recorded local field potentials (LFP) form avian hippocampus and where I have been able to replicate the studies of Dheerendra et al. (2018) by successfully recording carbachol induced gamma oscillations in this brain region. I am currently undertaking studies to characterise the pharmacology of these oscillations.

In addition to using carbachol (a non-selective agonist of acetylcholine receptors), I have conducted subsequent electrophysiological experiments on avian hippocampal brain slices with physostigmine (an acetylcholinesterase antagonist), pirenzepine (a selective antagonist of the M1 muscarinic receptor), and non-selective muscarinic receptor blockers such as atropine and scopolamine. During these experiments I recorded low and high frequency neuronal network activity in the chicken hippocampus of 7–14 days old chicks. I am now preparing these brain slices for immunohistochemical analysis where I aim to examine the distribution and density of neuronal cell types important for neuronal oscillations (for e.g., parvalbumin interneurons). I have started to study the method of preparing sections for these immunohistochemical experiments.

I have also conducted initial behavioural experiments with chicks to look at neophobia and laterization of the brain, in collaboration with a second year PhD student colleague from Department of Zoology.

Last modified: Fri, 05 Mar 2021 16:12:26 GMT