SPATIAL FIRING PROPERTIES OF HIPPOCAMPAL NEURONS

海马神经元的空间放电特性

• 批准号: 3401235
• 负责人: JOHN L KUBIE
• 金额: $ 11.14万
• 依托单位: SUNY DOWNSTATE MEDICAL CENTER
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1984
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1984-03-01 至 1993-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3401235
• 关键词: brain mapping; electroencephalography; electrophysiology; hippocampus; histology; laboratory rat; neural information processing; neurophysiology; neuropsychology; orientation; space perception; telemetry

Mammals in general are excellent navigators. They go efficiently from place to place in known environments and are quick to learn their way around new regions. The thrust of our research is to investigate how the complex spatial problem solving abilities of mammals arise from the properties of their nervous systems. We have chosen to study this problem in rats for several reasons. First, a great deal is known about navigation by rats; their capacities in this regard are understood better than those of any other species save man. Second, rats are small enough that interesting environments for observing them during navigation can be created economically. Finally, the relationship between brain function and navigation has been studied much more thoroughly for rats than for any other species. The current view of the neural basis of rat navigation rests in large part on the work of O'Keefe and Nadel (43), who forcefully argued that a major part of the cortex called the "hippocampus" must be intact for rats to show highly intelligent spatial behavior. Just as importantly, they argued that the existence of "place cells" in the hippocampus is prima facie evidence that the hippocampus is directly involved in navigation. Place cells are neurons that have the astonishing property of being intensely active only when a rat is in a restricted portion of its environment -- their activity is "location-specific". The themes of the proposed work have in common a desire to learn more about the meaning of the location-specific activity of place cells. The first concerns the origins of place cell activity; we intend to record from cells in brain regions that provide input to place cells. The second theme involves efforts to more precisely establish the linkages between place cell activity and the choices made by an animal as it solves a spatial problem. The final theme asks about the activity of groups of place cells; we imagine that much can be learned about the nature of the posited hippocampal representation of the animal's environment by finding conditions under which the location- specific activity of individual cells stays in register or shifts. It is our contention that studying the neural basis of navigation is important in the general realm of animal behavior. In a sense, navigation characterizes animal behavior; it is an essential part in the ability of animals to perform all of their self- and species-preserving tasks. It is also hoped that the proposed work will be of value in understanding dementia in people; the relation between navigation and human mental function is so basic that an inability to describe one's location in time and space is taken as direct evidence of severe malfunction during neurological or psychiatric examinations. If animal models are valid for neural processes as complex as getting around in the world, this hope may well be realized.

哺乳动物一般都是优秀的航海家。 他们效率很高 在已知的环境中从一个地方到另一个地方， 在新的区域里。 我们研究的重点是 研究如何解决复杂的空间问题的能力， 哺乳动物是由它们的神经系统的特性产生的。 我们 选择在老鼠身上研究这个问题有几个原因。 首先，我们对老鼠的导航有很多了解， 在这方面的能力比任何其他国家都更好地理解。 其他物种拯救人类。第二，老鼠足够小， 在航行过程中观察它们的有趣环境可以 在经济上创造。 最后，大脑与 功能和导航已经研究得更彻底， 老鼠比任何其他物种。 目前对老鼠导航的神经基础的看法是， 奥基夫和纳德尔（43）的工作，谁有力地 认为大脑皮层的一个主要部分叫做“海马体”， 必须是完整的老鼠表现出高度智能的空间 行为 同样重要的是，他们认为， 海马体中的“定位细胞”是一个初步证据， 海马体直接参与导航。 放置单元格是 神经元有着惊人的特性， 只有当大鼠处于其 环境--它们的活动是“特定地点”的。 拟议工作的主题有一个共同的愿望，学习 更多关于特定地点活动的意义 细胞 第一个是关于位置细胞活动的起源;我们 意图从大脑区域的细胞中记录，这些细胞提供输入， 放置细胞。 第二个主题涉及更准确地 建立位置细胞活动和选择之间的联系 是动物解决空间问题时产生的。 最后一个主题 询问位置细胞群的活动;我们想象， 我们可以了解到很多关于海马神经元的性质， 通过查找条件来表示动物的环境 在这种情况下，单个细胞的位置特异性活性 保持在寄存器或移位。 我们认为研究导航的神经基础 在动物行为的一般领域是很重要的。 从某种意义上说， 导航是动物行为的特征;它是动物行为的重要组成部分。 在动物的能力，以执行他们所有的自我- 物种保护任务。 也希望拟议的工作 将有助于了解痴呆症患者的情况; 导航与人类心理功能之间的联系是如此基本， 无法描述一个人在时间和空间中的位置 作为神经系统严重故障的直接证据， 精神检查。 如果动物模型对神经系统有效， 像在世界上四处走动这样复杂的过程，这种希望可能 好实现。