Instability and collapse of memory states in neural networks of the brain in health and disease (22-16717S)
Basic information
Investigator: RNDr. Eduard Kelemen, Ph.D.
Main recipient: Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University
Co-recipient: National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences
Research period: 1/1/2022 – 31/12/2024
Total budget: 8,646,000 CZK
NIMH budget: 4,234,000 CZK
Supported by: Czech Science Foundation (GACR)
Annotation
Information processing across interconnected brain regions requires balanced degree of stability in its individual neural networks. Theoretical models predict complex psychiatric pathologies might arise from inbalance in network activity states that form representations of external stimuli or internal mental states. We will test the hypothesis that the impairment of neural network stability is present in animal models of psychosis and stress-related disorders. In networks of the hippocampo-neocortical circuitry we will record activity from large populations of individual single neurons to study the evolution of network memory states during memory acquisition and consolidation with high temporal resolution. We will characterize the natural and pathological levels of instability in selected behavioral paradigms. We predict that the induced acute psychosis and traumatic experience will be associated with disorganization of activity states both in time and in their information content, knowledge essential for further understanding complex brain pathologies.