# Cellular mechanisms and behavioral impacts of experience-dependent inhibitory plasticity in the accessory olfactory bulb

> **NIH NIH F31** · UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER · 2020 · $33,924

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
Mammals rely heavily on their olfactory systems for survival and reproduction. The accessory olfactory system
(AOS), best known for its role in pheromone processing, is a dedicated system for the detection of non-volatile
social chemosignals. Such social chemosignals are thought to help identify conspecifics and heterospecifics, as
well as convey information about the physiological state of other animals. Interestingly, the accessory olfactory
bulb (AOB), the first and only dedicated circuit in the AOS, has been shown to change how it processes social
stimuli after experience. However, the mechanisms by which experience induces this plasticity are not well
understood. The overall goal of this project is to better understand how experience can shape neural circuits.
The proposed research will utilize electrophysiology to first identify physiological changes in interneurons
induced by repeated experience. In addition, single cell RNA sequencing will be used to identify activity-
dependent changes in gene expression. Finally, chemogenetic strategies will be used to manipulate the
interneuron populations that undergo plasticity to determine if they play a direct role in behavioral output. By
identifying changes in the physiology and gene expression of AOB interneurons, and determining their behavioral
role after repeated social experience, this work will help identify the mechanisms involved in the central
processing of chemosensory information and determine the contributions of interneurons to mammalian social
behavior.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10020166
- **Project number:** 5F31DC018440-02
- **Recipient organization:** UT SOUTHWESTERN MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Kelsey Elizabeth Zuk
- **Activity code:** F31 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $33,924
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-08-27 → 2022-08-26

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10020166

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10020166, Cellular mechanisms and behavioral impacts of experience-dependent inhibitory plasticity in the accessory olfactory bulb (5F31DC018440-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10020166. Licensed CC0.

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