NEURAL BASIS FOR SPATIAL CONGNITION

空间认知的神经基础

• 批准号: 3475844
• 负责人: JEFFREY Steven TAUBE
• 金额: $ 11.11万
• 依托单位: DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-09-15 至 1997-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/3475844
• 关键词: NMDA receptors; behavior test; biological signal transduction; brain electrical activity; brain imaging /visualization /scanning; cell population study; chordate locomotion; controlled environment chamber; cues; experimental brain lesion; head movements; hippocampus; histology; laboratory rat; neural information processing; neuroanatomy; neurons; neuropsychology; open field behavior; operant conditionings; sensory discrimination; sensory mechanism; single cell analysis; space perception; stainings; stereotaxic techniques; visual stimulus

This proposal describes a series of experiments which will examine will examine how spatial information is processed in the mammalian brain. In previous studies a population of neurons was identified in the postsubiculum (located within the hippocampal formation) which discharge as a function of the animal's head direction, independent of the animal's behavior and spatial location. This spatial signal provides a model system for examining how primary sensory information, entering through various sensory pathways, is transformed into a 'higher level cognitive signal" representing the organism's spatial relationship with its environment. The mechanisms which accomplish this transformation in the central nervous system are not known. The first aim of the proposal is to examine how the head direction cell signal is processed in the brain. To address this issue, three experimental approaches will be pursed. First, the anatomical connectivity of the postsubiculum will be identified using neural anatomical tracing techniques. Second, the electrophysiological properties and spatial sensitivities of single neurons in brain regions projecting to the postsubiculum will be examined. Finally, the processing of head direction cell activity will be monitored in rats in which lesions or chemical treatments have interrupted the circuit. Taken together, the results obtained from these studies will improve our understanding of the neural circuitry involved in the activation of head direction cells. A second line of investigation will focus on how an animal uses the head direction cell signal in behavior and spatial navigation. To date, head direction cell activity has been recorded only in rats moving freely in a cylindrical environment retrieving food pellets. The proposed studies will evaluate how different behavioral paradigms effect head direction cell activity. For example, head direction cell activity will be monitored while an animal performs a classical conditioning or visual discrimination task. Additional experiments will determine whether head direction cell activity can be modified by environmental manipulations. In these experiments, head direction cell activity will be observed as an animal learns its orientation in a novel, or previously familiar environment. Finally, the role of NMDA receptors in establishing an animal's spatial orientation in a novel environment will be explored. The results from the proposed experiments will provide insight into how spatial information is processed in the brain. These findings have implications from human health and behavior. It is common for elderly patients and patients with Alzheimer's disease, a disease often associated with marked pathology of the postsubiculum, to experience spatial disorientation to the extent that constant supervision is required. Learning how spatial information is processed in the rat brain will give us clues about the complex nature of spatial processes in humans.

这项提议描述了一系列实验，这些实验将检验Will 研究空间信息在哺乳动物大脑中是如何处理的。在……里面 以前的研究发现，一组神经元是在 下丘后(位于海马结构内)，它以 动物头部方向的函数，与动物头部方向无关 行为和空间位置。该空间信号提供了一个模型系统 为了检查初级感觉信息是如何通过不同的 感官通路，被转化为“更高水平的认知信号” 代表有机体与其环境的空间关系。这个 在中枢神经系统中完成这一转变的机制 系统是未知的。该提案的第一个目的是研究如何 头部方向的细胞信号在大脑中进行处理。要解决这个问题 在这个问题上，将寻求三种实验性的方法。首先，解剖学 下丘后的连通性将使用神经来识别 解剖示踪技术。第二，电生理特性 和脑区单个神经元的空间敏感度 将对下丘后进行检查。最后，头部的处理 将监测损伤或损伤的大鼠的方向细胞活动 化学处理已经中断了这一循环。总而言之， 这些研究的结果将加深我们对 参与头部方向细胞激活的神经回路。 第二条线的调查将集中在动物如何使用头部 行为和空间导航中的方向细胞信号。迄今为止，海德 只有在大鼠自由活动的情况下才能记录到定向细胞活动 回收食物颗粒的圆柱形环境。拟议的研究将 评估不同的行为范式对头部方向细胞的影响 活动。例如，将监视头部方向单元的活动 当动物执行经典的条件反射或视觉辨别时 任务。更多的实验将确定头部方向细胞 活动可以通过环境操纵来改变。在这些 实验中，头部方向的细胞活动将被观察为动物 在一个新的或以前熟悉的环境中学习它的方向。 最后，NMDA受体在动物空间建立中的作用 将探索在新环境中的定位。 拟议中的实验结果将为我们提供关于 空间信息在大脑中进行处理。这些发现有 对人类健康和行为的影响。这在老年人中很常见 患者和阿尔茨海默病患者，这是一种经常与 带着明显的下丘后病理，体验空间 迷失了方向，以至于需要不断地监督。 了解空间信息在大鼠大脑中是如何处理的将给我们 关于人类空间过程的复杂性质的线索。