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Structural, neural and mental underpinnings of rat ticklishness

老鼠怕痒的结构、神经和心理基础

基本信息

批准号：
393810148
负责人：
Professor Dr. Michael Brecht
金额：
--
依托单位：
Institut für Biologie
依托单位国家：
德国
项目类别：
Research Grants
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
德国
起止时间：
2017-12-31 至 2019-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/393810148?language=en
关键词：
Structural neural mental underpinnings rat

项目摘要

The primary objective of this proposal is to determine the structural, neural, and mental underpinnings of rat ticklishness. Tickling, a peculiar and amusing form of social touch, has been discussed by philosophers and scientists for more than two millennia. Despite a historical interest in tickling as a topic, fundamental questions remain unanswered: Why does tickling induce laughter? Why do body parts differ in ticklishness? Why can we not tickle ourselves? Our previous work suggests that activity in layer 5 of trunk somatosensory cortex might be sufficient for evoking ticklishness in rats. We will build on these findings with three main goals in mind. (i) We will further corroborate that layer 5 of trunk somatosensory cortex harbors the neural substrate of ticklishness using pharmacological and optogenetic blocking techniques. (ii) We will identify the microcircuits mediating ticklishness and attempt to understand why some body parts are preferentially ticklish. (iii) We will ask, in neural terms, what makes tickling fun? We will investigate if rats will voluntarily self-administer electric tickling, i.e. microstimulation or optogenetic activation of the somatosensory cortex. Our electrical/optogenetic brain stimulation approach will allow imposing the same brain activity without external cues, in the presence of a weak cue (a still hand) or in the presence of a strong cue (a hand pretending to touch). This way the proposed experiments will elucidate how rats generate the idea of a tickling agent, a mental construct that greatly affects ticklish sensations.

这项研究的主要目的是确定老鼠痒感的结构、神经和心理基础。挠痒痒是一种奇特而有趣的社会接触形式，哲学家和科学家已经讨论了两千多年。尽管历史上对挠痒痒作为一个话题很感兴趣，但基本问题仍然没有答案：为什么挠痒痒会引起笑声？为什么身体各部位的痒感不同？为什么我们不能自己挠痒痒？我们先前的工作表明，躯干体感皮层第5层的活动可能足以引起大鼠的痒感。我们将在这些发现的基础上，考虑三个主要目标。(i)我们将使用药理学和光遗传学阻断技术进一步证实躯干体感皮层第5层含有痒感的神经基质。(ii)我们将识别调节痒感的微回路，并试图理解为什么身体的某些部位优先感到痒。(iii)我们会问，从神经学的角度来看，是什么让挠痒痒变得有趣？我们将研究大鼠是否会自愿自我给予电搔痒，即躯体感觉皮层的微刺激或光遗传学激活。我们的电/光遗传学脑刺激方法将允许在没有外部线索的情况下，在存在弱线索（静止的手）或存在强线索（假装触摸的手）的情况下施加相同的大脑活动。通过这种方式，拟议中的实验将阐明老鼠如何产生发痒剂的想法，这是一种极大地影响痒感的心理结构。