Case Study Of Dr. Hiroshi Nishiyama
Dr. Hiroshi Nishiyama received his bachelors and PhD degree in chemistry from Kyoto University in Japan, and later on moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he was a postdoctoral researcher in John Hopkins Medical Center. Shortly after this he became an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently working on research relating to the connectivity between pre- and postsynaptic neurons. Dr. Nishiyama uses the cerebellum as a primary model system and a combination of scientific techniques and software to try and answer the questions he discussed in his seminar presentation. To begin his seminar, Dr. Nishiyama explained that the synaptic connections between neurons undergo constant structural remodeling from childhood
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Nishiyama and his lab team experimented on the brains of adult mice. Surgery was performed as intraparenchymal injections, which contained a virus, were put in between the cerebellar vermal lobule VII and the paramedian lobule in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Three weeks after the injection was made, a cranial opening was made near the paramedian lobule and a coverslip was created right on top of the dura and the surgical cyanoacrylate. The researchers waited at least two weeks for the mice to recover, and an in vivo two-photon microscopy was performed by using a laser-scanning confocal microscope and external, non-descanned photomultiplier tubes. The parallel fibers were identified in raw z-stacks, and their changes in time were recorded. The size of appearance and disappearance of varicosities were noted at their appropriate times, and the mean was taken since there were many experimental factors that could change during each imaging session. Next, the formation and elimination of parallel fiber varicosities were examined to see if they were modulated by motor learning. Eight mice were trained for eight weeks, but two of them did not undergo surgery or imaging. Results showed that there was a greater parallel fiber structural plasticity after the mice training ended that during the actual training period. The acrobatic motor skills the mice learned seemed to suppress the dynamics of parallel fiber plasticity, and it also suppressed the formation of new
Nishiyama and his lab team experimented on the brains of adult mice. Surgery was performed as intraparenchymal injections, which contained a virus, were put in between the cerebellar vermal lobule VII and the paramedian lobule in the right cerebellar hemisphere. Three weeks after the injection was made, a cranial opening was made near the paramedian lobule and a coverslip was created right on top of the dura and the surgical cyanoacrylate. The researchers waited at least two weeks for the mice to recover, and an in vivo two-photon microscopy was performed by using a laser-scanning confocal microscope and external, non-descanned photomultiplier tubes. The parallel fibers were identified in raw z-stacks, and their changes in time were recorded. The size of appearance and disappearance of varicosities were noted at their appropriate times, and the mean was taken since there were many experimental factors that could change during each imaging session. Next, the formation and elimination of parallel fiber varicosities were examined to see if they were modulated by motor learning. Eight mice were trained for eight weeks, but two of them did not undergo surgery or imaging. Results showed that there was a greater parallel fiber structural plasticity after the mice training ended that during the actual training period. The acrobatic motor skills the mice learned seemed to suppress the dynamics of parallel fiber plasticity, and it also suppressed the formation of new