RUI: Mechanisms of selectivity to behaviorally relevant sounds in the auditory midbrain

RUI：听觉中脑中行为相关声音的选择性机制

• 批准号: 1257768
• 负责人: Christine Portfors
• 金额: $ 66.02万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-06-01 至 2017-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1257768&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Mechanisms; selectivity; behaviorally; relevant

Many animals communicate with members of their own species using specific sounds. These vocalizations are behaviorally relevant to the animals because they facilitate important behaviors such as mating, maintaining a territory, or finding offspring on return from foraging. When an animal hears one of these behaviorally relevant sounds, it must make an appropriate response based on the information in the sound. To do this, the animal's auditory system must detect, discriminate, and categorize each of the sounds. The goal of this project is to understand how neurons in the auditory midbrain achieve these tasks. The inferior colliculus is the first site in the ascending auditory system where individual neurons respond selectively to vocalizations but the mechanisms by which they do this are not well understood. Previously recorded vocalizations that were emitted by male mice when they were interacting with females will be presented as stimuli to female mice. Responses of individual neurons in the inferior colliculus will be recorded before and after pharmacological inactivation of inhibitory receptors to test the role of inhibition in shaping responses to vocalizations. The importance of this research is in understanding the ways in which the brain has evolved to optimally respond to behaviorally relevant signals. This research will increase the understanding of how sound perception helps animals survive. A variety of broader impacts will result from this project, including training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students. These students will be trained in neurophysiological techniques and will learn quantitative techniques through the groups active collaborations with mathematicians. This group of collaborators will develop and assess a neuroscience curriculum for middle school students, including units on acoustic communication, the auditory system and hearing loss. Included in this curriculum will be the development and assessment of alternative media methods, such as comics and graphic novels, for teaching about neuroscience.

许多动物用特定的声音与自己的物种成员交流。这些发声与动物的行为相关，因为它们促进了重要的行为，如交配，维护领土，或寻找觅食回来的后代。当动物听到这些与行为相关的声音时，它必须根据声音中的信息做出适当的反应。要做到这一点，动物的听觉系统必须检测，区分和分类每一个声音。这个项目的目标是了解听觉中脑的神经元如何完成这些任务。下丘是上行听觉系统中的第一个部位，单个神经元选择性地对发声做出反应，但它们这样做的机制还不清楚。先前记录的雄性小鼠与雌性小鼠相互作用时发出的发声将作为对雌性小鼠的刺激。将在抑制性受体的药理学失活之前和之后记录下丘中单个神经元的反应，以测试抑制在形成对发声的反应中的作用。 这项研究的重要性在于了解大脑如何进化以最佳地响应行为相关信号。这项研究将增加对声音感知如何帮助动物生存的理解。该项目将产生各种更广泛的影响，包括为研究生和本科生提供培训机会。 这些学生将接受神经生理学技术的培训，并将通过与数学家的积极合作学习定量技术。这组合作者将为中学生开发和评估神经科学课程，包括声学通信，听觉系统和听力损失的单元。本课程将包括开发和评估替代媒体方法，如漫画和图形小说，用于神经科学教学。