Rats track odour trails accurately using a multi-layered strategy with near-optimal sampling
Rats track odour trails accurately using a multi-layered strategy with near-optimal sampling
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DOI：
10.1038/ncomms1712
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发表时间：
2012-02-01
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Bhalla, Upinder Singh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Khan, Adil Ghani;Sarangi, Manaswini;Bhalla, Upinder Singh
追踪气味痕迹对许多动物来说是一种至关重要的行为，通常会导致食物、交配或远离危险。这是主动采样的一个很好的例子，在这种采样中，动物自己控制如何感知环境。在这里，我们展示了老鼠可以通过接近最佳的采样准确地追踪气味踪迹。我们训练老鼠跟踪在跑步机上缠绕的纸上画的气味痕迹。通过记录嗅球的局部场电位(LFP)和嗅探率，我们发现嗅觉而不是LFP在跟踪和非跟踪条件下有所不同。老鼠可以追踪到接近1厘米的气味，当一个鼻孔关闭时，这种准确性就会下降。此外，它们还显示了遇到叉子时的路径预测，遇到缝隙时的大范围“投射”扫描，以及在1-2次嗅探中检测到踪迹的再现。我们建议大鼠采用多层次的策略，在这项复杂的任务中实现高效的采样和高精度。
Tracking odour trails is a crucial behaviour for many animals, often leading to food, mates or away from danger. It is an excellent example of active sampling, where the animal itself controls how to sense the environment. Here we show that rats can track odour trails accurately with near-optimal sampling. We trained rats to follow odour trails drawn on paper spooled through a treadmill. By recording local field potentials (LFPs) from the olfactory bulb, and sniffing rates, we find that sniffing but not LFPs differ between tracking and non-tracking conditions. Rats can track odours within similar to 1 cm, and this accuracy is degraded when one nostril is closed. Moreover, they show path prediction on encountering a fork, wide 'casting' sweeps on encountering a gap and detection of reappearance of the trail in 1-2 sniffs. We suggest that rats use a multi-layered strategy, and achieve efficient sampling and high accuracy in this complex task.