Center for Neural Science



G80/G83.2201 Cellular, Molecular & Developmental Neural Science Fall 2004
Syllabus

(revised 8 December 2004)

The class meets in Room 815 Meyer Hall, Tuesdays and Thursdays 9:00-10:45am.

Sep 7

Lect 1

Nerve and glia: Structure and function (Aoki)
Readings: Hall, Ch 1; Feldman et al., Ch 3
PowerPoint Slides: Intro.ppt ; Glia.ppt

Sep 9

Lect 2

Ultrastructure of neurons & supporting cells (Aoki)
Readings: Palay, 1991; Feldman et al., Ch 6
PowerPoint Slides: Glia.ppt;   EM.ppt
Sep 9 assignment (#1) due Sep 21.

Sep 14

Lect 3

Membrane biophysics I: Thermodynamic principles (Tranchina)
Readings: Fain, TBA

Sep 16

Lect 4

Membrane biophysics II: Passive properties of the membrane. (Tranchina)
Readings: Fain, Ch. 2, 3, 4
Sep 16 assignment (#2) due Sep 28.

Sep 21

Lect 5

Membrane biophysics III: Hodgkin-Huxley model (Reyes)
Readings: Fain, Ch. 5, 6
Sep 9 assignment due today.

Sep 23

Lect 6

Synaptic transmission I: Diversity of ion channels: Effect on firing patterns (Reyes)
Readings: Fain, Ch. 7; reprint on dendritic conductances (distributed in class)

Sep 28

Lect 7

Synaptic transmission II: Pre- and postsynaptic mechanisms of plasticity at excitatory synapses of the CNS (Reyes)
Readings: Fain, Ch. 8
Sep 16 assignment due today; Sep 28 assignment (#3) due Oct 7.

Sep 30

Lect 8

Synaptic transmission III: Quantal hypothesis of synaptic transmission: Neuromuscular junction as a model (Tranchina)
Readings: Fain, TBA

Oct 5

Lect 9

Synaptic transmission IV: Second messenger modulation of ion channels (Reyes)
Readings:TBA

Oct 7

Lect 10

Neurotransmitters & receptors I: Glutamate for learning and memory but also excitotoxicity (Aoki)
Readings: Feldman et al., Ch 10.1
PowerPoint Slides: glut-lect.ppt
Sep 28 assignment due today.

Oct 12

Lect 11

Neurotransmitters & receptors II: Function and plasticity of inhibitory synapses (Kotak)
Readings: Feldman et al., Ch 10.2 and hand-outs

PowerPoint Slides: Inhibition_posted_03.ppt

Oct 14

Lect 12

Neurotransmitters & receptors III: Noradrenaline (Aoki)
Readings: Feldman et al., Ch 8.1, 8.3, 12.1
PowerPoint Slides: NELecture.ppt
Oct 14 assignment (#4) due Nov 2.

Oct 19

Lect 13

Neurotransmitters & receptors IV: Dopamine & serotonin (Aoki)
Readings: Feldman et al., Ch 8.2, 18, 20; Ch 11 and 12
PowerPoint Slides: DA & Peptides Lecture.ppt

Oct 21

Open Date

 

Oct 26

No Class

Society for Neuroscience Meeting

Oct 28

Lect 14

Molecular approaches to neuroscience I: Overview (Huerta)
Readings: Mayford & Kandel, 1999, Scannevin & Huganir, 2000; Lisman, Schulman & Cline, 2002.
Power Point Slides: 10-28 Lecture 14
Oct 28 assignment (#5) due Nov 16.

Nov 2

Lect 15

Neurotransmitters & receptors V: Serotonin & development (Azmitia)
Readings: Azmitia & Whitaker-Azmitia, 1997
Power Point Slides: Azmitia - Part 1, Azmitia - Part 2
Oct 14 assignment due today.

Nov 4

Lect 16

Molecular approaches to neuroscience II: Molecular genetics of circadian rhythms in Drosophila (Blau)
Readings will be distributed in class by Prof. Blau.

Nov 9

Lect 17

Molecular approaches to neuroscience III: Second messenger cascades: kinases and phosphatases (Huerta)
Readings: See ppt slides.
Power Point Slides: 11-9 Lecture 17

Nov 11

Lect 18

Molecular approaches to neuroscience IV: Ion channel structure and function, probing neural circuits and animal behavior by the transgenic expression of modified ion channels (Holmes)
Readings: Nitabach et al., 2002; Holmes, 2002.
Nov 11 assignment (#6) due Nov 23.

Nov 16

Lect 19

Neurotransmitters & receptors VI: Acetylcholine in sleep, memory and addiction (Aoki)
Readings:Feldman et al., Ch 7 and 20.2
PowerPoint Slides: AchLecture.ppt
Oct 28 assignment due today.

Nov 18

Lect 20

Development of the nervous system I: Introduction (Fishell)
Power Point Slides: Fishell - Part 1 Fishell - Part 2
Readings:TBA

Nov 23

Lect 21

Development of the nervous system II: Spatial control of gene transcription during early Drosophila development (Desplan)
Slides (pdf)  
Readings: Fisher & Candy, 1998; ;Jan & Jan, 2001; Sanes, 2000; Schafer & Knoblich, 2001.
Nov 11 assignment due today.

Nov 25

No Class

Thanksgiving Holiday

Nov 30

Lect 22

Development of the nervous system III: Genetic and mechanistic approaches to development. From the early Drosophila embryo to the eye (Desplan)
Slides (pdf) 
Readings: TBA
Nov 30 assignment (#7) due Dec 9.

Dec 2

Lect 23

Development of the nervous system IV: Growth factor; survival and cell death (Chao).
Readings: Kuruvilla et al, 2004; Ariaksinen, 2002; Chao, 2003.

Dec 7

Lect 24

Development of the nervous system V: Axonal pathfinding (Sink)
Readings: Araujo & Tear, 2003

Dec 9

Lect 25

Development of the nervous system VI: Synapse formation (Burden)
Readings: Arber et al.; Burden ; Sanes et al.
Nov 30 assignment due today.

Dec 14

Lect 26

Development of the nervous system VII: Developmental Plasticity (Gan)
Readings: Gan ; Lichtman & Coleman ; Rakic et al. ; Walsh & Lichtman

Take-home examination distributed after class today;
      due Thu, Dec 23, 9:00am;
      no exceptions without prior permission.

 

FACULTY

Chiye Aoki, 1056A Meyer, 8-3929

 Efrain Azmitia, Biology, 953 Brown, 8-8250

Justin Blau, Biology, 1001 Brown, 8-8261

 Stephen Burden, Skirball, (212) 263-7341

Moses Chao, Skirball, (212) 263-0721

 Claude Desplan, Biology, 756 Brown, 8-3966

Samuel Feldman†, 954 Meyer, 8-7852

Gordon Fishell, Skirball, (212) 263-6791

Wenbiao Gan, Skirball, (212) 263-2585

Todd C. Holmes, Biology, 654 Main, 8-8275

Patricio Huerta,802 Meyer, 8-3578

Vibhakar Kotak, 1007 Meyer, 8-3916

Alexander Reyes, 1057A Meyer, 8-3994

Helen Sink, Skirball, (212) 263-0753

Daniel Tranchina, Math & Bio, 520 Weaver, 8-3109

 †Course Director


TEXTS

Gordon L. Fain, Molecular and Cellular Physiology of Neurons, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999.

R.S. Feldman, J.S. Meyer and L.F. Quenzer, Principles of Neuropharmacology, Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, 1997.

D.H. Sanes, T.A. Reh and W.A. Harris, Development of the Nervous System, Academic Press, 2000.



OTHER READINGS (will usually be available as pdf or distributed)

Airaksinen, MS and Saarma, M. The GDNF family: Signalling, biological functions and therapeutic value. Nature reviews. Neuroscience (Online), 2002, 3:383-394.

Azmitia, EC and Whitaker-Azmitia, PM. Development and adult plasticity of serotonergic neurons and their target cells. Chapter 1 in HG Baumgarten and M Gothert (eds), Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, NY: Elsevier, 1997.

Chao, MV. Neurotrphins and their receptors: A convergence point for many signalling pathways. Nature reviews. Neuroscience (Online), 2003 4:299-309.

Engert F, Bonhoeffer T. Dendritic spine changes associated with hippocampal long-term synaptic plasticity. Nature, 1999, 399:66-70.

Fisher & Candy. The function of hairy-related bHLH repressor proteinsin cell fate decisions. BioEssays, 1998, 20, 298-306.

Grutzendler J, Kasthuri N, Gan WB. Long-term dendritic spine stability in the adult cortex. Nature, 2002, 420:812-816,

Hall, ZW. Introduction to Molecular Neurobiology, Sunderland, MA: Sinauer, 1992.

Holmes, T.C. (2002) Ion channel-directed therapies in autonomic neurons: a view from the bench. Clin Auton Res, 12:59-65.

Jan & Jan, Asymmetric cell division in the Drosophila nervous system. Nature Reviews Neurosciences, 2001, 772-779.

Kuruvilla et al. (2004) A neurotropin signalling cascade coordinates sympathetic neuron development through differential control of TrkA trafficking and retrograde signalling. Cell 118, 243-255.

Nitabach, M.N., Blau, J. and Holmes, T.C. (2002) Electrical silencing of central pacemaker neurons stops the central molecular clock. Cell 109:485-495

Palay, SL. The meaning of synaptics architecture. Ch. 4 (Pp 49-51) in K Fuxe and LF Agnati (eds.) Volume Transmission in the Brain: Novel Mechanisms for Neural Transmission, NY: Raven, 1991.

Peters, A, Palay, SL and Webster, HDeF.. The Fine Structure of the Nervous System: Neurons and Their Supporting Cells, 3rd ed., NY: Oxford, 1991. (Book in CNS Library.)

Schaefer & Knoblich, Protein localization during asymmetric cell division. Exp. Cell Res. 2001, 271, 66-74.

Toni N, Buchs PA, Nikonenko I, Bron CR, Muller D. LTP promotes formation of multiple spine synapses between a single axon terminal and a dendrite. Nature, 1999, 402:421-425.

Trachtenberg JT, Chen BE, Knott GW, Feng G, Sanes JR, Welker E, Svoboda K. Long-term in vivo imaging of experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in adult cortex. Nature, 2002, 420:788-794

Yuste R, Bonhoeffer T. Morphological changes in dendritic spines associated with long-term synaptic plasticity. Annu Rev Neurosci, 2001, 24:1071-1089.

Update: 8 December 2004                                                 sam@cns.nyu.edu