NEURAL MECHANISMS OF DIRECTIONAL ORIENTATION

描述（改编自申请人的摘要）：与第二个五年的 K02的支持，PI希望继续他的职业生涯，重点是研究。 他的兴趣领域集中在神经生物学机制， 空间认知和相关的学习形式。除了救济， 正常教学中，获奖也将提供PI学习的机会 一些新的技术与拟议的研究和他的未来计划。 实验提出，这将试图阐明如何空间 信息是在哺乳动物的大脑中处理的，重点是 PI先前识别和描述的头部方向（HD）细胞。是 PI的目标是确定感官信息如何转化为Ahigh， 代表空间的水平认知信号。在目标1和2中，PI将 检查HD细胞信号是如何产生的。在目标3和4中， 将检查对HD放电的前庭输入。目标5将探讨 GABA能中间神经元定义HD细胞=放电模式。目标6 检查HD细胞用于维持稳定调谐曲线的线索类型， 动物进入一个新的环境，而目标7则侧重于动物与环境之间的联系。 HD细胞和空间定向行为。最后，Aim 8研究了HD细胞如何 对地球水平面以外的平面有反应。这些实验的结果 将对理解大脑如何处理空间信息 信息，由于空间处理缺陷的特点是 与年龄相关的认知障碍，了解这些 人类的缺陷。

DESCRIPTION (adapted from applicant's abstract): With a second five years of K02 support, the PI wishes to continue his career with an emphasis on research. His areas of interest focus on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying spatial cognition and related forms of learning. In addition to relief from normal teaching, the award will also provide the PI the opportunity to learn several new techniques related to the proposed studies and his future plans. Experiments are proposed which will attempt to elucidate how spatial information is processed in the mammalian brain, with emphasis on the role of head direction (HD) cells previously identified and described by the PI. It is the PI's goal to determine how sensory information is transformed into a Ahigh level cognitive signal@ representing space. In Aims 1 and 2, the PI will examine how the HD cell signal is generated. In Aims 3 and 4, the role of vestibular inputs on HD firing will be examined. Aim 5 will explore the role of GABAergic interneurons in defining the HD cells= firing patterns. Aim 6 examines the types of cues HD cells used to maintain a stable tuning curve when the animal enters a novel environment, while Aim 7 focuses on the link between the HD cell and space-directed behaviors. Lastly, Aim 8 examines how HD cells respond to planes other than Earth horizontal. The results of these experiments will have implications for understanding how the brain processes spatial information, and since spatial processing deficits are characteristic of age-related cognitive impairments, to understand the nature of these impairments in humans.