More about Team Lopes-Aguiar (sleep, synaptic plasticity and memory research)
Network activity during sleep is thought to support memory through a process known as systems consolidation. In this process, neuronal circuits are reorganized, and new cell assemblies are bound with neurons that were previously activated during acquisition of the memory itself. In particular, reorganization between the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is considered to play a critical role. These regions are activated during working memory components of behavior and later reactivate in synchrony during sleep. Sharp-wave ripples (SWR), oscillations in the local field of electrodes at the CA1 pyramidal hippocampal layer, seems to provide effective windows for the propagation of information out of the hippocampus and can affect activity throughout the neocortex. Importantly, we hypothesize that this activity provides a mechanism for the systems consolidation of memory.
Our research group aims to take advantage of large-scale neurophysiological recordings, mathematical analyses, and optogenetics technology in freely-moving animals to investigate how hippocampal SWR activity can drive changes in the connectivity of mPFC local circuits in normal conditions and in experimental models of neurological conditions, such as Parkinson's Disease and Epilepsy.
Besides we are interested in developing open source closed-loop strategies to examine directly the role of the hippocampal-prefrontal communication on memory storage processes.
Team:
Principal Investigator:
Dr. Cleiton Lopes Aguiar
Publications https://scholar.google.com.br/citations?hl=en&btnA=1&user=BJkJ85AAAAAJ
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9310-6338
People
Graduate students
Bruno Monteiro de Sousa (PhD student - Physiology and Pharmachology Graduate Program - UFMG)
Igor Menezes Gonçalves Rego (Master's student - Physiology and Pharmachology Graduate Program - UFMG)
Rafaela Schuttenberg Polanczyk (Master's student - Physiology and Pharmachology Graduate Program - UFMG)
Mariana Reines Bevilaqua Sullavan (Master's student - Neuroscience Graduate Program - UFMG)
Undergraduate students
Ikaro Jesus da Silva Beraldo
Mateus Prates Rodrigues
Marcela Bastos Vieira Matos
Isabela Borges Hubner
Beatriz Polachini