Faculty

Albert Berger
Professor
Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Princeton, 1967
Ph.D. Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, 1976
Office phone: (206) 543-8196
berger@u.washington.edu

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NEURAL AND CHEMICAL CONTROL OF RESPIRATION; NEURON STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION

The overall theme of our research program is respiratory neurobiology. Currently we are using a mammalian in vitro brainstem slice to investigate respiratory pattern generation as well as an important class of central respiratory neuron, the hypoglossal motoneuron. Activity of these motoneurons causes the tongue muscle to contract, and is therefore important in a variety of behaviors including: respiration, chewing, swallowing, suckling and speech. We expect that knowledge of the motoneurons will reveal roles for these neurons in normal respiratory-related behaviors and also potentially lethal failures in this system. Failure of the upper airways to remain open during sleep is responsible for obstructive sleep apnea, and we hope that a better understanding of the function, development and synaptic activation of hypoglossal motoneurons will lead to an understanding and treatment for this disorder.

We are pursuing several interrelated projects, in all projects we record from hypoglossal motoneurons that are directly visualized in slices using infra-red illumination and differential interference optics. In one project we are studying in the rhythmic slice preparation whether glycine and/or GABA receptor-mediated synaptic events are important for the inspiratory-related behavior of hypoglossal motoneurons. We hypothesize that glycine and/or GABA-mediated synaptic events shape the inspiratory phase behavior of these motoneurons. In another project we are studying both sub-threshold and spike firing resonance behavior of hypoglossal motoneurons. We believe that inspiratory synaptic drive interacts with intrinsic resonance properties of these neurons to more efficiently drive the cells to fire action potentials.