Inhibitory GABAergic neurons in the cerebral cortex have been thought to only have short axons that form synapses on excitatory glutamatergic neurons in local circuits. In this episode I talk with Heidelberg University Professor about her stellar career punctuated by major discoveries concerning mechanisms of excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission in the cerebral cortex. The conversation focuses on her recent discovery of inhibitory neurons with long axons that synapse upon excitatory or inhibitory neurons in different regions of the cerebral cortex. These long distance inhibitory pathways function to synchronize neural network activities of different brain regions and may also play important roles in learning and memory and task execution. Dysfunction of GABAergic interneurons is increasingly recognized to occur early in Alzheimer's disease and other neurological disorders with important implications for the development of novel treatments.

LINKS

Monyer laboratory: https://www.dkfz.de/en/clinical-neurobiology

Review article on cortical inhibitory projection neurons:

file:///Users/markmattson/Downloads/s41583-020-0344-9.pdf

Relevant original research articles:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11233578/pdf/41467_2024_Article_50055.pdf

https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(15)01035-1?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0896627315010351%3Fshowall%3Dtrue

https://www.cell.com/cell-reports/fulltext/S2211-1247(21)00115-7?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS2211124721001157%3Fshowall%3Dtrue