Collaborative Research: The Hemo-Neural Hypothesis

这项拟议的研究将检验这一新的假设，即增加局部脑区的血液供应会影响神经处理。神经回路的一个关键特征是它们的灵活性，即它们根据环境做出不同反应(例如，对感觉刺激)的能力。这种灵活性使生物体，特别是人类，能够执行关键的生存任务，如转移注意力。这种灵活性对大脑健康也至关重要：神经动力学的正常机制--正常的敏感度转移能力--的故障与从癫痫到精神分裂症等一系列疾病有关。在这个项目中，PI将测试大脑皮质感觉神经元血液供应的变化可以调节它们对感觉输入的反应的预测。为了验证这一假设，他们将整合四项技术，汇集两个实验室的专业知识：完整的动物电生理和成像研究，以确定血流变化对神经活动的影响；以及脑切片的电生理和成像研究，开始研究这种现象背后的机制。这项研究的一个主要特点是开发了一种双向血流调节的新方法，即病毒将光激活通道导入血管。通过使用定向光收缩或放松平滑肌肉，它们会扩张或收缩局部大脑小动脉，调节血液供应。这种方法提供了一种与药物干预的潜在混淆无关的方法。这项拟议研究的第二个关键特点是为麻省理工学院皇后区学院的学生开展暑期研究活动。该项目将为皇后学院的学生提供一个独特的机会，让他们体验麻省理工学院的环境，系统地培训研究提案的制定，执行该计划，培训研究伦理，并为出版撰写摘要。

The proposed research will test the novel hypothesis that enhanced blood supply to a local brain region impacts neural processing. A key feature of neural circuits is their flexibility, their ability to respond differently (for example, to a sensory stimulus) depending on context. This flexibility allows organisms in general and humans in particular to perform crucial tasks for survival, such as shifting attention. This flexibility is also crucial to brain health: Failures in normal mechanisms of neural dynamics - in the normal ability to shift sensitivity - have been implicated in diseases ranging from epilepsy to schizophrenia.In this project the PIs will test the prediction that changes in blood supply to cortical sensory neurons can modulate their responses to sensory inputs. To test this hypothesis, they will integrate four techniques, bringing together expertise from two laboratories: whole animal electrophysiological and imaging studies to define the effect of changes in blood flow on neural activity and electrophysiological and imaging studies in brain slices to begin to investigate the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon. A key feature of the proposed research is development of a novel means of bidirectional blood flow regulation, the viral transfection of light-activated channels into smooth muscle. By constricting or relaxing smooth muscles using directed light, they will expand or contract local cerebral arterioles, regulating blood supply. This method provides an approach independent of the potential confounds of pharmacological intervention. A second key feature of the proposed research is a summer research initiative for Queens College students at MIT. This program will provide a unique opportunity for Queens College students to experience the MIT environment, systematic training in research proposal development, execution of this plan, training in research ethics, and writing a summary for publication.