Neural mechanisms of vestibular perception in zebrafish

这个项目旨在通过移除身体运动来了解前庭的处理。前庭系统允许我们感知重力和运动，但我们不知道大脑是如何处理来自内耳前庭传感器的信息的。这个项目将用激光对斑马鱼的内耳施力，刺激前庭感觉。这意味着动物在静止时会经历前庭刺激，允许对前庭提示做出反应的神经元进行钙成像，并通过光遗传学来刺激这些神经元或使其沉默。这有望揭示哪些细胞和回路调节前庭的感知、处理和行为。

This project aims to understand vestibular processing by removing physical movement. The vestibular system allows us to perceive gravity and movement, but it is not understood how the brain processes information from vestibular sensors in the inner ear. This project will exert forces on the zebrafish’s inner ear with a laser, stimulating the vestibular sense. This means that the animal will experience vestibular stimuli while stationary, allowing calcium imaging of neurons that respond to vestibular cues and optogenetics to stimulate or silence these neurons. This is expected to reveal which cells and circuits mediate vestibular perception, processing and behaviour.