RESEARCH – Autophagy-mediated mechanisms of plasticity and stress adaptation

In our new research unit FOR 5228 Syntophagy we are investigating how presynaptic mechanism of autophagy drive synaptic plasticity. In our subproject we are especially interested in how neuropeptide Y (NPY) may shape plasticity in the hippocampal mossy fiber system and how NPY-positive interneurons regulate their own activity via autophagy. Two receptors for NPY, Y1 and Y2, may be involved in these processes, thereby interacting with different intracellular signaling pathways that can regulate mossy fiber anatomy and physiology. We will also investigate how juvenile stress shapes these processes and, ultimately, also behaviors associated with mossy fiber plasticity.