Gina Poe, Ph.D. ~Associate Professor of Anesthesiology ~Associate Professor of Molecular & Integrative Physiology 7433 Med. Sci. I ginapoe@umich.edu

My research combines interests in basic sleep processes, development, learning and memory, and optimization of cognitive performance. A putative function of REM sleep is to improve cognitive functioning, in particular, learning and memory. However, the neural process at work during sleep had not been discovered. We use cutting edge techniques (multiple microelectrodes) to measure activity from 30-60 neurons (currently in the hippocampus) simultaneously in the freely behaving animal. We have found a neural discharge pattern that could explain why
REM sleep is important to synaptic reorganization in general, which includes the synaptic changes that occur during learning and normal development. We are continuing this work with rats while they learn mazes and subsequently sleep. We will also look at spontaneous neural activity during waking and sleep in developing mammals, who have much higher quantities of REM sleep and synaptic reorganization than adults. Detailed investigation of these neural processes could uncover the normal mechanisms underlying the role of sleep in learning and memory and explain cognitive declines that parallel REM sleep disruptions, such as in certain cases of mental retardation and in the normal aging process.

Representative Publications:

Poe, G.R., Nitz, D.A., McNaughton, B.L., and Barnes, C.A. Experience-dependent reversal of theta phase discharge profiles in REM sleep. Brain Res. 855(1):176-80; 2000.

Poe, G.R., Teed, R.G.W., White, R.D., Insel, N., McNaughton, B.L., and Barnes, C.A. Effect of functional removal of one or two hemispheres of the hippocampus on spatial information processing in young and aged rats. Behavioral Neuroscience, 114:5, In press, Oct 2000.

Knierim, J.J., McNaughton, B.L., Poe, G.R. Three-dimensional spatial selectivity of hippocampal neurons during space flight. Nature Neurosci. 3(3):209-210; 2000.

Poe, G.R., Nitz, D.A., Rector, D.M., Kristensen, M.P., and Harper, R.M. Concurrent reflectance imaging and microdialysis in the freely behaving cat. J. Neurosci. Methods 65: 143-49; 1996.

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