Modeling the Neuronal Processing in the Olfactory Bulb

描述（由申请人提供）：大脑如何使用动作电位编码感觉信息？是只有平均放电率相关，还是尖峰的精确定时很重要？由于尖峰的近同步在驱动下游神经元方面是有效的，因此它可能是神经代码的重要特征。可能，大脑利用这两种类型的编码，强调一个或另一个，这取决于手头的任务。在最近对斑马鱼嗅球的实验中，已经观察到涉及近同步和振荡的复杂时间行为，这表明信息传输的多路复用，近同步和异步尖峰携带关于感觉输入的不同信息。在拟议的项目中，将与实验密切合作开发嗅球电路的生物物理学详细计算模型，以揭示神经亚群的多路复用和近同步的机制。这些结果也可能揭示其他大脑功能，其中时间相关性和振荡似乎是相关的（例如，注意力、感知、睡眠、记忆巩固/检索）。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): How does the brain encode sensory information using action potentials? Is only the mean firing rate relevant or is the precise timing of the spikes significant? Since near-synchrony of spikes is effective in driving downstream neurons, it could be an important feature of the neural code. Possibly, the brain makes use of both types of encoding, emphasizing one or the other, depending on the task at hand. In recent experiments on the olfactory bulb in zebrafish, complex temporal behavior involving near-synchrony and oscillations has been observed that suggests a multiplexing of the information transmission, with near-synchronous and asynchronous spikes carrying different information about the sensory input. In the proposed project, a biophysically detailed computational model of the circuitry of the olfactory bulb will be developed in close collaboration with experiments, in order to uncover the mechanisms underlying the multiplexing and the near-synchronization of neural sub-populations. The results may also shed light on other brain functions where temporal correlations and oscillations appear to be relevant (e.g., attention, perception, sleep, memory consolidation/retrieval).