FUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION OF AUDITORY CORTEX

这个子项目是利用资源的许多研究子项目之一。 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。对子项目的主要支持 子项目的首席调查员可能是由其他来源提供的， 包括美国国立卫生研究院的其他来源。为子项目列出的总成本可能 表示该子项目使用的中心基础设施的估计数量， 不是由NCRR赠款提供给次级项目或次级项目工作人员的直接资金。 该项目试图通过将人类与黑猩猩(与人类关系最近的动物)和猕猴进行比较，来了解人类听觉皮质的组织和人类特有的听觉皮质特征的进化。该项目将使用神经成像和组织学技术来定义人类的高级听觉区域，识别黑猩猩和猕猴的同源区域，并确定这三个物种听觉区域之间的连接模式。 2010年，我们发展了囊泡性谷氨酸转运蛋白2(VGLUT2)的免疫组织化学研究经验，它被认为是丘脑感觉核皮质传入的特异性标志物。为了证实这一点，我们检测了3个物种(人类、黑猩猩和猕猴)初级视觉皮质中的VGLUT2免疫反应性，这些物种被认为在膝状投射的层状靶点上不同。VGLUT2的结果有力地支持了这种转运蛋白可以作为初级感觉丘脑皮质传入的标记的想法。 我们现在已经开始用抗VGLUT标记听觉皮质，以更好地了解内侧膝状体投射到该区域的分布。此外，我们还利用扩散张量成像技术研究了黑猩猩听觉皮质内膝状内侧纤维的分布。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. This project seeks to understand the organization of auditory cortex in humans and the evolution of human-specific features of auditory cortex by comparing humans with chimpanzees (the animals most closely related to humans) and in macaque monkeys. The project will use neuroimaging and histological techniques to define higher-order auditory areas in humans, identify homologous areas in chimpanzees and macaques, and determine patterns of connectivity between auditory areas in the three species. In 2010, we developed experience with immunohistochemistry for vesicular glumate transporter 2 (VGLUT2), which has been posited to serve as a specific marker for cortical afferents arising from thalamic sensory nuclei. To confirm this, we examined VGLUT2 immunoreactivity in primary visual cortex from 3 species (humans, chimpanzees, and macaque monkeys) that are believed to differ in the laminar targets of geniculate projections. The results with VGLUT2 strongly support the idea that this transporter can serve as a marker for primary sensory thalamocortical afferents. We have now begun to label auditory cortex with anti-VGLUT to better understand the distribution of medial geniculate projections to this region. In addition, we have initiated a study of the distribution of medial geniculate fibers in the auditory cortex in chimpanzees using diffusion-tensor imaging.