UTD
Cortical Plasticity Laboratory
Michael P. Kilgard
Associate
Professor
Ph.D.,
University of California
at San Francisco,
1998
My research
interests relate to the general principles that underlie the remarkable
self-organizing capability of the cerebral cortex. The cortex is
continually reorganized to optimize its function to match the environment an
individual occupies. Although cellular studies have demonstrated that
plasticity mechanisms are dependent on correlation-based rules, we still do not
understand the principles that govern how sensory experience alters the
distributed responses of thousands of cortical neurons in a behaviorally useful
manner.
Understanding how brain networks self-organize themselves is critically
important for the development of new rehabilitation therapies for autism,
dyslexia, stroke, schizophrenia, and Alzheimer’s disease. Current treatment of neurological disease is
limited to pharmacological, surgical, or behavioral interventions. Recent experimental advances indicate that it
may soon be possible to effectively manipulate plasticity mechanisms in human
patients. Early attempts to develop
neuroscience-based therapies have been encouraging. The primary aim of experiments in my laboratory is to learn how sensory experience and
behavioral motivation influence cortical plasticity so that these factors can
be manipulated for therapeutic benefit.
We are using both environmental enrichment
and more targeted behavioral training to study the mechanisms of cortical
plasticity. We are also very interested
in the role the cholinergic projection from nucleus basalis plays in guiding
cortical plasticity. Electrical activation of nucleus basalis paired with
different sounds causes dramatic reorganization of the rat auditory
cortex. By systematically manipulating
features of these sounds we have been able to generate changes in cortical
topography, temporal processing, sequence selectivity, and
synchronization. These studies indicate
that both emotionally salient stimuli and irrelevant background sounds
contribute to cortical organization.
We have recently demonstrated that pairing
sounds with electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve can generate specific and
long lasting plasticity that is indistinguishable from nucleus basalis. Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is well
tolerated in humans and we have recently show that
pairing tones with VNS is sufficient to reverse chronic tinnitus in rats. We have begun studies to determine whether
VNS directed plasticity could be used to treat other conditions.
We have recently received funding from the
National Institutes of Health to develop VNS as a therapy for tinnitus and to
study speech sound processing in an animal model of autism.
Cortical
Activity Patterns Predict Speech Discrimination Ability, Engineer CT, Perez
CA, Chen YH, Carraway RS, Reed AC, Shetake JA,
Jakkamsetti V, Chang KQ, Kilgard MP. Nature Neuroscience, 11: 603-608,
2008 (download
file, supplemental
data, and video).
Sensory
Experience Determines Enrichment-Induced Plasticity in Rat Auditory Cortex,
Percaccio CR, Pruette AL, Mistry
ST, Chen YH, Kilgard MP. Brain Research, 1174:76-91, 2007 (download
file).
Spectral and Temporal Processing in Rat Posterior Auditory Cortex. PK Pandya, DL Rathbun, R Moucha, ND
Engineer, MP Kilgard. Cerebral Cortex, 2007. (download file)
Plasticity
in the Rat Posterior Auditory Field following Nucleus Basalis Stimulation. Puckett
AC, Pandya PK, Moucha R, Dai W, Kilgard MP. Journal of Neurophysiology. 98:253-65, 2007. (download file)
Experience
Dependent Plasticity Alters Cortical Synchronization. Kilgard
MP, Vazquez JL, Engineer ND, Pandya PK. Hearing Research. 229:171-179,
2007. (download file)
Response to Broadband Repetitive Stimuli in Auditory Cortex of the Unanesthetized Rat. SE Anderson, MP Kilgard, AM Sloan, RL Rennaker, Hearing Research, 2006 (download
file).
Environmental
Enrichment Increases Paired Pulse Depression in Rat Auditory Cortex. CR
Percaccio, ND Engineer, AL Pruette, PK Pandya, R
Moucha, DL Rathbun, MP Kilgard, Journal of Neurophysiology, 94:3590-600, 2005 (download file).
Background
Sounds Contribute to Spectrotemporal Plasticity In Primary Auditory Cortex.
R Moucha, PK Pandya, ND Engineer, DL Rathbun, MP Kilgard. Experimental Brain Research,
162:417-27, 2005 (download
file).
Environmental
Enrichment Improves Response Strength, Threshold, Selectivity, and Latency of
Auditory Cortex Neurons. Engineer ND, Percaccio CR, Pandya PK, Moucha R,
Rathbun DL, Kilgard MP. Journal of Neurophysiology, 92(1):73-82, 2004
(download file).
Cortical
Network Reorganization Guided by Sensory Input Features, M.P. Kilgard, P.K.
Pandya, N.D. Engineer, R. Moucha, Biological
Cybernetics, 87(5-6):333-43, 2002 (download
file).
Order Sensitive
Plasticity in Adult Primary Auditory Cortex, M.P. Kilgard, M.M.
Merzenich, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99:
3205-3209, 2002. (download file)
Sensory
Input Directs Spatial and Temporal Plasticity in Primary Auditory Cortex,
M.P. Kilgard, P.K. Pandya, J.L. Vazquez, Gehi, A.,
C.E. Schreiner, M.M. Merzenich, Journal of Neurophysiology, 86: 339-353,
2001. (download
file)
Plasticity
of Temporal Information Processing in the Primary Auditory Cortex, M.P.
Kilgard, M.M. Merzenich, Nature Neuroscience, 1(8): 727-731, 1998. (download file)
Nucleus
Basalis Activity Enables Cortical Map Reorganization, M.P. Kilgard, M.M.
Merzenich, Science 279(5357): 1714-1718, 1998.
(download file)
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