Prefrontal Cortex Contributions to Behavior Organization

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案的总体目标是了解前额叶皮层如何促进行为组织。前额皮质病理学可能与精神分裂症或强迫症的紊乱行为症状有关。在这里，将研究大鼠前额皮质前边缘/下边缘（PL/IL）区域的行为组织和作用。 PL/IL 对于大鼠在旧策略先前成功的相同环境中学习新策略是必要的。该提案假设 PL/IL 还需要灵活使用两种先前学习的策略。将教大鼠使用一种策略解决迷宫，然后将 PL/IL 灭活，同时大鼠学习第二种策略或灵活使用两种熟悉的策略。 PL/IL 神经元的电生理记录将从执行相同 PL/IL 依赖性任务的大鼠中获取。 PL/IL 活动的行为和任务相关性将表明这些神经元如何编码信息以及 PL/IL 如何有助于灵活行为的组织。通过了解前额皮质区域的正常功能，我们可以开始了解功能障碍与疾病的关系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this proposal is to understand how the prefrontal cortex contributes to the organization of behavior. Prefrontal cortical pathology may be linked to symptoms of disorganized behavior in schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Here, behavioral organization and the role of the prelimbic/infralimbic (PL/IL) region of the rat prefrontal cortex will be investigated. The PL/IL is necessary for rats to learn a new strategy in the same environment where an old strategy was previously successful. This proposal hypothesizes that the PL/IL is also required to use two previously learned strategies flexibly. Rats will be taught to solve a maze using one strategy, then the PL/IL will be inactivated while the rats learn a second strategy or use two familiar strategies flexibly. Electrophysiological recordings of PL/IL neurons will be taken from rats performing the same PL/IL dependent tasks. Behavioral and task correlates of PL/IL activity will suggest how these neurons encode information and how the PL/IL contributes to the organization of flexible behavior. By understanding normal function in prefrontal cortical regions, we may begin to understand how dysfunction is related to disease.