Research
Interests
Neural Networks and Behavior, Neuromodulation, Plasticity, Physiology and Evolution
Current Research
Research in my laboratory focuses on the investigation of neuronal networks underlying behavior. I am specifically interested in identifying mechanisms that allow those neural networks to adapt their patterns of activities during different behaviors.
In my current projects I use the weakly electric fish Apteronotus leptorhynchus as a model system. Weakly electric fish generate electric fields via electric organ discharges (EODs) to electrolocate and to communicate with other conspecifics. These EODs are species- and sex specific. EODs undergo short-term modulations during courtship and aggression. I focus on the study of two nuclei within in the well-characterized brain circuitry: the pacemaker nucleus, where the EOD is generated, and the pre-pacemaker nucleus, a nucleus that induces short-term modulations of the EOD. Using comparative histological as well as electrophysiological techniques and in vitro preparations, I am studying the role neuromodulators play in the sex-specificity of this electric behavior.
Please contact me if you have further questions about my research.
telgkamp@msu.edu
Selected
Publications
Search all publications in the NCBI Journal Database
Telgkamp P., Combs N., Smith G.T. Serotonin in a diencephalic nucleus controlling communication in an electric fish: Sexual dimorphism and relationship to indicators of dominance. J.Neurobiol. in press.
Telgkamp P., Padgett D.E., Ledoux V.A., Woolley C.S., and Raman I.M. Maintenance of high-frequency inhibitory transmission at Purkinje to cerebellar nuclear synapses by spillover from boutons with multiple release sites. Neuron, 41:113-26 (2004).
Telgkamp P., Cao Y.Q., Basbaum A.I., and Ramirez J.M. Long-term deprivation of substance P in PPT-A mutant mice alters the anoxic response of the isolated respiratory network. Journal of Neurophysiology, 88: 206-213 (2002).
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Petra Telgkamp