Molecular Plasticity
Sleep benefits learning and memory by regulating synaptic plasticity. How sleep and wakefulness modulate synaptic strength in the brain remains highly debated. The prevailing hypothesis and supporting evidence propose synaptic downscaling during sleep and synaptic potentiation during wakefulness, yet substantial contradictory findings challenge this theory.
Current projects investigate:
- How sleep and sleep deprivation affect synaptic connections from the perspective of presynaptic strength and postsynaptic density
- A systematic, cross-scale and cross-region examination of sleep-related changes in synaptic density across the whole brain
This project employs longitudinal whole-brain synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A (SV2A) PET imaging with [18F]SynVest-1 to assess the effects of sleep deprivation on presynaptic strength in mice, combined with in vitro [3H]UCB-J SV2A autoradiography and Golgi staining for dendritic spine visualization. In addition, electron microscopy is used to quantify the number of functional synapses, providing a gold-standard measure of synaptic density. By integrating presynaptic markers (SV2A), postsynaptic markers (spine), and functional synapse counts, this project comprehensively evaluates multiple brain regions, with a primary focus on the neocortex and hippocampus.
An overview of all INM-2 publications can be found here.