Research in our group is concerned with the cellular and molecular mechanisms of nervous system development, with particular emphasis on how neural impulse activity regulates development and plasticity of the nervous system. A molecular and electrophysiological approach is combined with live cell confocal imaging to investigate how patterned neural impulse activity is transduced into intracellular signaling networks to regulate expression of specific genes controlling development and synaptic plasticity. The scope of the section's investigations extends to activity-dependent interactions between neurons and glia and synaptic plasticity in the hippocampus. In cell culture and acute brain slice, the section studies mechanisms of activity-dependent communication between neurons and glia and the intracellular signaling pathways controlling gene expression necessary for long-term memory. The section's research has shown effects of impulse activity on cellular differentiation, axon outgrowth, synaptogenesis, synaptic remodeling, and myelination.