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Faculty
Charles J. Wilson, Ph.D. Lab Page: http://marlin.life.utsa.edu/ Research Interests The basal ganglia are a set of forebrain nuclei thought to be responsible for the selection of actions, goals and strategies based upon assessment of the previous experience of success and failure with those actions, goals or strategies in similar situations. My research goal is understanding these structures as a neuronal machine whose function is to select from among its various inputs those patterns which have been associated with success in the past. Work in my laboratory concentrates on the contribution of each type of neuron to the operation of the overall circuit, and the connections between neurons that make up the circuit. At this point my lab concentrates on four of these cell types: (1) the principle cell of the neostriatum (the striatal spiny neuron), (2) the cholinergic interneuron of the neostriatum, (3) the dopaminergic neuron of the substantia nigra pars compacta, and (4) the projection neuron of the subthalamic nucleus. Each of these cells plays a unique and essential role in the functioning of the basal ganglia and in the control of voluntary movement, and so is worthy of study in its own right. They also represent extremes of computational style. For example, the striatal spiny neuron show no spontaneous firing, with potassium currents utterly dominating its membrane potential in the absence of synaptic current. These cells fire only upon the collective effort of hundreds of excitatory synaptic inputs. Their firing patterns are controlled by the moment to moment fluctuation of the net synaptic current, but fluctuations on a scale many times that of single synapses. The cholinergic interneurons, on the other hand, are spontaneously active in the absence of synaptic inputs, firing in a rhythmic bursting pattern. However, in vivo they fire in an irregular single spiking pattern caused by occasional synchronous activity of small groups of afferent inputs, each which produces a large unitary synaptic potential. Superimposition of 2-5 of these sufficient to fire the cholinergic interneuron. Recent Publications Goldberg JA, Deister CA, Wilson CJ. Response properties and synchronization of rhythmically firing dendritic neurons. J Neurophysiol. 2007 Jan;97(1):208-19. Ding J, Guzman JN, Tkatch T, Chen S, Goldberg JA, Ebert PJ, Levitt P, Wilson CJ, Hamm HE, Surmeier DJ. RGS4-dependent attenuation of M4 autoreceptor function in striatal cholinergic interneurons following dopamine depletion. Nat Neurosci. 2006 Jun;9(6):832-42. Wilson CJ. Striatal D2 receptors and LTD: yes, but not where you thought they were. Neuron. 2006 May 4;50(3):347-8. Goldberg JA, Wilson CJ. Control of spontaneous firing patterns by the selective coupling of calcium currents to calcium-activated potassium currents in striatal cholinergic interneurons. J Neurosci. 2005 Nov 2;25(44):10230-8. Kuznetsov AS, Kopell NJ, Wilson CJ. Transient high-frequency firing in a coupled-oscillator model of the mesencephalic dopaminergic neuron. J Neurophysiol. 2006 Feb;95(2):932-47. Wilson CJ, Goldberg JA. Origin of the slow afterhyperpolarization and slow rhythmic bursting in striatal cholinergic interneurons. J Neurophysiol. 2006 Jan;95(1):196-204. Wilson CJ. The mechanism of intrinsic amplification of hyperpolarizations and spontaneous bursting in striatal cholinergic interneurons. Neuron. 2005 Feb 17;45(4):575-85. Tepper JM, Koos T, Wilson CJ. GABAergic microcircuits in the neostriatum. Trends Neurosci. 2004 Nov;27(11):662-9. Koos T, Tepper JM, Wilson CJ. Comparison of IPSCs evoked by spiny and fast-spiking neurons in the neostriatum. J Neurosci. 2004 Sep 8;24(36):7916-22. Sachdev RN, Ebner FF, Wilson CJ. Effect of subthreshold up and down states on the whisker-evoked response in somatosensory cortex. J Neurophysiol. 2004 Dec;92(6):3511-21. Wilson CJ, Weyrick A, Terman D, Hallworth NE, Bevan MD. A model of reverse spike frequency adaptation and repetitive firing of subthalamic nucleus neurons. J Neurophysiol. 2004 May;91(5):1963-80. Hallworth NE, Wilson CJ, Bevan MD. Apamin-sensitive small conductance calcium-activated potassium channels, through their selective coupling to voltage-gated calcium channels, are critical determinants of the precision, pace, and pattern of action potential generation in rat subthalamic nucleus neurons in vitro. J Neurosci. 2003 Aug 20;23(20):7525-42. Zhou FM, Wilson CJ, Dani JA. Cholinergic interneuron characteristics and nicotinic properties in the striatum. J Neurobiol. 2002 Dec;53(4):590-605. Bevan MD, Magill PJ, Terman D, Bolam JP, Wilson CJ. Move to the rhythm: oscillations in the subthalamic nucleus-external globus pallidus network. Trends Neurosci. 2002 Oct;25(10):525-31.
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