Silvana Valtcheva

Silvana Valtcheva
University of Cologne | UOC · Institute for Vegetative Physiology

PhD
Synaptic plasticity, hypothalamus and maternal behavior

About

16
Publications
11,418
Reads
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449
Citations
Additional affiliations
December 2019 - December 2019
NYU Langone Medical Center
Position
  • Teacher
Description
  • NYU Postdoc workshop - Basics of patch-clamp
January 2017 - present
NYU Langone Medical Center
Position
  • PostDoc Position
October 2012 - December 2016
Collège de France
Position
  • PhD Student
Education
October 2012 - October 2016
Sorbonne Université
Field of study
  • Neuroscience
September 2010 - June 2012
Sorbonne Université
Field of study
  • Neuroscience
September 2007 - June 2010
Sorbonne Université
Field of study
  • Life Sciences

Publications

Publications (16)
Article
Full-text available
Abstract Astrocytes, via excitatory amino-acid transporter type-2 (EAAT2), are the major sink for released glutamate and contribute to set the strength and timing of synaptic inputs. The conditions required for the emergence of Hebbian plasticity from distributed neural activity remain elusive. Here, we investigate the role of EAAT2 in the expressi...
Article
Activity-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD) of synaptic strength underlie multiple forms of learning and memory. Spike-timing-dependent plasticity (STDP) has been described as a Hebbian synaptic learning rule that could account for experience-dependent changes in neural networks, but little is known about whether and how ST...
Article
Full-text available
The electrical properties of extracellular space around neurons are important to understand the genesis of extracellular potentials, as well as for localizing neuronal activity from extracellular recordings. However, the exact nature of these extracellular properties is still uncertain. We introduce a method to measure the impedance of the tissue,...
Article
Full-text available
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that is important for maternal physiology and childcare, including parturition and milk ejection during nursing1–6. Suckling triggers the release of oxytocin, but other sensory cues—specifically, infant cries—can increase the levels of oxytocin in new human mothers⁷, which indicates that cries can activate hypothalamic ox...
Article
Full-text available
Cochlear implants (CIs) are neuroprosthetic devices that can provide hearing to deaf people1. Despite the benefits offered by CIs, the time taken for hearing to be restored and perceptual accuracy after long-term CI use remain highly variable2,3. CI use is believed to require neuroplasticity in the central auditory system, and differential engageme...
Preprint
Full-text available
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide important for maternal physiology and childcare, including parturition and milk ejection during nursing1-8. Suckling triggers oxytocin release, but other sensory cues- specifically infant cries- can elevate oxytocin levels in new human mothers9-11 indicating that cries can activate hypothalamic oxytocin neurons. Here we d...
Article
Full-text available
Although many details remain unknown, several positive statements can be made about the laminar distribution of primate frontal eye field (FEF) neurons with different physiological properties. Most certainly, pyramidal neurons in the deep layer of FEF that project to the brainstem carry movement and fixation signals but clear evidence also support...
Preprint
Full-text available
Oxytocin is a neuropeptide important for maternal physiology and childcare, including parturition and milk ejection during nursing. Suckling triggers oxytocin release, but other sensory cues- specifically infant cries- can elevate oxytocin levels in new human mothers, indicating that cries can activate hypothalamic oxytocin neurons. Here we describ...
Article
Full-text available
Infant cries evoke powerful responses in parents1–4. Whether parental animals are intrinsically sensitive to neonatal vocalizations, or instead learn about vocal cues for parenting responses is unclear. In mice, pup-naive virgin females do not recognize the meaning of pup distress calls, but retrieve isolated pups to the nest after having been co-h...
Article
Full-text available
An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.
Preprint
Full-text available
Infant cries evoke powerful responses in parents. To what extent are parental animals innately sensitive to neonatal vocalizations, or might instead learn about key vocal cues for appropriate parenting responses? In mice, naive virgins do not recognize the meaning of pup distress calls, but begin to retrieve pups to the nest following cohousing wit...
Article
Full-text available
Activity-dependent long-term changes in synaptic strength constitute key elements for learning and memory formation. Long-term plasticity can be induced in vivo and ex vivo by various physiologically relevant activity patterns. Depending on their temporal statistics, such patterns can induce long-lasting changes in the synaptic weight by potentiati...
Article
Full-text available
Motherhood in mammals involves tremendous changes throughout the body and central nervous system, which support attention and nurturing of infants. Maternal care consists of complex behaviors, such as nursing and protection of the offspring, requiring new mothers to become highly sensitive to infant needs. Long-lasting neural plasticity in various...
Article
Full-text available
In spike-timing dependent plasticity (STDP) change in synaptic strength depends on the timing of pre- vs. postsynaptic spiking activity. Since STDP is in compliance with Hebb’s postulate, it is considered one of the major mechanisms of memory storage and recall. STDP comprises a system of two coincidence detectors with N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor...
Article
Full-text available
The electrical properties of extracellular space around neurons are important to understand the genesis of extracellular potentials, as well as for localizing neuronal activity from extracellular recordings. However, the exact nature of these extracellu-lar properties is still uncertain. We introduce a method to measure the impedance of the tissue,...

Questions

Questions (5)
Question
Does anyone know where I can find dodecyl propionate? Dodecyl propionate is a rodent pheromone present in rat pup's preputial gland (original paper by Brouette-Lahlou et al., 1991, J Chem Ecol, paper attached).
It seems that this compound does not exist anywhere for sale so I was curious if I can make it synthesized/made on demand? If someone is familiar with a chemistry website/database where I can order pheromones from, that would be amazing.
Thanks in advance!
Question
Has anyone used oxytocin receptor antagonist (like L-368,899) in acute brain slices for electrophysiology recordings? I am wondering what is the concentration range. Thanks a lot!
Question
I need to collect only one blood sample from rats for serum separation.
My questions are:
1) Is tail nick better than terminal decapitation under general anesthesia since with decapitation blood may be mixed with tissue fluid?
2) What is the type of tube that would work the best in that case? Is it possible to use normal eppendorf or specialized tubes like Vacutainers/microvettes are better?
Thanks a lot!
Question
I want to use 10mM BAPTA in k-gluconate-based internal solution for whole-cell patch clamp recordings but I have difficulties to dissolve it.
I know it is possible to add BAPTA (acid) directly to the internal solution by adjusting the pH (with KOH) or dissolving it in 0.3N sodium bicarbonate before adding it to the internal solution.
I would be very thankful if you could share your experience!
Question
Should animals be single-housed or pair-housed when performing a chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) procedure?
When animals are pair-housed, isolation overnight could be used as one of the stressors in CUS.
In contrast, single-housed animals could be exposed to pair housing as a stressor.
It seems that pair housing is more common in rats.
Thanks in advance!

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