My name is Marco Atzori and I am responsible for this laboratory. I started my appointment with UTD in September 2004 and I am currently setting up the laboratory with the financial support of UTD and of the NIH/NIDCD.

Present research and future plans

I am interested in the functional and structural characterization of neocortical networks, in particular in the temporal areas, which process auditory information. We use animal -mostly rodent- models, for studying the properties and morphology of single cells, their synapses, and the way they respond to different types of stimuli, such as repeated electrical activation of their synaptic afferents or chemical activation of membrane or intracellular receptors.

Lessons | Laboratory of Cell & Synaptic Physiology

Objectives

The Laboratory of Cell and Synaptic Physiology (LCSP) is interested in developing a quantitative model explaining how the neocortex switches between different functional modalitiesunder the influence of endogenous neuromodulators like acetylcholine and monoamines. The work is based on the effect of such modulators on firing patterns, synaptic conductances and other cellular properties.

Current Focus

We are focusing now on the mechanisms used by acetylcholine, dopamine and norepinephrine, neurotransmitter associated with attentive and learning states, to change the response of single individual cells and small circuits in the supragranular layers of the auditory cortex of the rat.

Diseases

Although the main objective is to study the poorly known physiological behavior of cortical networks, our work relates to neurological and psychiatric diseases including Alzeheimer disease, associated with a cholinergic deficit, psychoses of schizophrenic or other origin, and drug addiction, related to abnormal monoaminergic function.

Techniques

Electrophysiology (extracellular-, patch-clamp, culture, slice and in vivo recording) Anatomy (neuron tracing, Glgi stain, immunofluorescence).