Electrophysiological and Behavioral Assessments

新Core C的总体目标是为RMTSC研究人员提供资源、专业知识和培训，以表征其模型啮齿动物的化学感觉能力和反应性。这些包括转基因和基因敲除小鼠的表型评估，以及实验诱导的味觉和嗅觉缺陷的生物体，包括药物的局部递送。由于自上一个资助期以来，由现有和新的RMTSC核心研究人员生产和/或使用的基因靶向和转基因小鼠的数量急剧增加，因此出现了对评估核心的需求。此外，一些新的产品线正在开发中，将被多个RMTSC研究人员使用。

The overall goal of the new Core C is to provide resources, expertise, and training for RMTSC investigators to characterize the chemosensory capabilities and responsiveness of their model rodents. These include phenotypic assessment of transgenic and knockout mice, as well as organisms with experimentally induced taste and olfactory deficits, including localized delivery of pharmacological agents. The need for an assessment core has arisen because the numbers of gene-targeted and transgenic mice produced and/or utilized by established and new RMTSC core investigators has increased dramatically since the last funding period. Further, several new lines are being developed that will be utilized by multiple RMTSC investigators. These model organisms will require functional validation, both electrophysiological and behavioral. Electrophysiology core services include assistance with chorda tympani and glossopharyngeal taste nerve recording, to assess taste function in anterior and posterior lingual fields, and EOG recording, to assess function of the olfactory epithelium and olfactory nerve conduction. Behavioral assessment facilities include training and expertise in the design and execution of behavioral testing for both taste and olfactory function. These services include assistance with design and analysis of brief access taste tests using the Davis Rig llckometer, long-term 2-bottle preference tests, and olfactory function using the olfactometer. In addition to providing services for established investigators. Core C will aid new investigators who do not have the equipment or expertise to perform these assessments on their own. Further, having central core facilities will enhance collaborations among RMTSC investigators, and bring new investigators into the chemosensory field. It is not the intention of this core to perform all these studies for the participating laboratories, but rather to facilitate the capabilities of the participating laboratories to gain the requisite expertise.