Sensory Processing in the Mouse Accessory Olfactory Bulb

描述(由申请人提供)：感觉处理的中断对阿尔茨海默病或神经中风等疾病的发病率有很大影响，但这种处理的神经基础尚不清楚。小鼠用来识别信息素的嗅觉系统的划分提供了感觉处理的基本任务的例子，但它是在一套神经结构中进行的，这些结构在解剖学上比大多数哺乳动物的感觉系统更简单、更容易获得。将刺激传导和行为输出分开的处理位置有限，这使得该系统在探索感官系统提取有关自然刺激显著特征的信息并将其表示为可用于指导行为的形式的机制时特别有用。在自然刺激的呈现过程中，测量这个系统的二阶神经元的活动有可能检验关于这种机制如何在嗅觉系统中实现的一些假说。这个细胞群体的活动将通过细胞外记录来测量。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Disruptions in sensory processing contribute significantly to the morbidity associated with diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease or following a neurological stroke, yet the neural basis of this processing is poorly understood. The division of the olfactory system used by mice to recognize pheromones provides examples of the basic tasks of sensory processing, but carried out in a set of neural structures that are anatomically simpler and more accessible than most mammalian sensory systems. The limited number of processing locations separating stimulus transduction and behavioral output make this system particularly useful for exploring the mechanisms by which sensory systems extract information about the salient characteristics of natural stimuli, and represent them in a form that can be used to guide behavior. Measuring the activity of the second order neurons of this system during the presentation of natural stimuli has the potential to test a number of hypotheses about how such mechanisms are implemented in the olfactory system. The activity of this cell population will be measured through extracellular recordings.