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Dr. Brian Derrick
Professor
210-458-5661
Research Interests
Our laboratory studies information processing in the hippocampal formation, a limbic structure crucial for encoding and the retrieval of episodic and semantic memory. We are interested in hippocampal function from a dynamical and cognitive/systems approach, and are exploring the predictions of current computational theories of brain function using behavioral, neurophysiological, neuropharmacological and molecular approaches. Presently we are investigating the dual roles of the dentate and CA3 region in encoding, pattern completion/retrieval, as well as investigating novelty detection in the hippocampal formation, and the contribution of LTP, LTD, metaplasticity and theta rhythm to hippocampal encoding processes.
Recent Publications
Martinez, C.O., Do, VH, Derrick, B.E. (2011) Opioid peptides contribute to associative LTP in the hippocampal CA3 region in vivo. Neurobio. Learning & Mem, 96(2):207-17.
Villarreal DM, C.J. Schindler, B. Derrick, and I. Vathy (2009) Prenatal morphine exposure attenuates long-term potentiation in lateral perforant path projections to the dentate gyrus and the CA3 region in vivo. J. Neurophys 99(3): 1235-1242.
Villarreal DM, Gross A, B.E. Derrick (2007) Modulation of CA3 afferent by theta rhythm phase and novelty. J. Neurosci. 27(48):13457-13467.
Derrick, BE (2007) Plastic processes in the dentate gyrus: a computational perspective. Prog Brain Res., 163:417-51.
Derrick, BE (2007) The cellular mechanisms of learning and memory: pattern separation and pattern completion in the hippocampal formation. Cell Science 4(2): 97-130.
Escobar ML and Derrick BE (2007) Long-Term Potentiation and Depression as Putative Mechanisms for Memory Formation In Neural Plasticity and Memory: From Genes to Brain Imaging.
Bermúdez-Rattoni F, Ed. CRC Press, Boca Raton FL.
Sanberg, C-D, Jones, F., Do, V., Dieguez, D, and Derrick, BE (2006) Antagonists of the 5-HT1a receptor block dentate LTP induction in novel, but not familiar environments. Learning & Memory. 13(1): 52-62.
Kosub, K., Do, V. and Derrick, BE (2005) NMDA antagonists block heterosynaptic LTD, but not LTP, following lateral perforant path stimulation. Neuro Lett., 374, 29-34.
Davis, C., Jones, F. and Derrick, BE. (2004) Novelty Enhances the Induction and Maintenance of LTP in the in the Dentate Gyrus. J. Neurosci. 24(29):6497-6506.