The role of the thalamic reticular nucleus in the temporal processing of medial g

描述（由申请人提供）：时间线索对言语感知至关重要。了解时变信号如何在前脑中转换，对于了解生物相关信号（如语音）的表征如何在听觉皮层中产生至关重要。听觉丘脑是所有到达听觉皮层的信息的关键检查点。尽管经过几十年的科学研究，它的作用仍然是未知的。理解丘脑作用的一个关键可能在于它与一个密切相关的神秘结构的相互作用，该结构被称为丘脑网状核（TRN）。我假设，听觉丘脑作为一个时间过滤器和过滤性能积极调制的丘脑网状核（TRN）通过控制放电模式，切换丘脑皮层神经元之间的紧张和突发尖峰。拟议的研究将解决的影响，听觉丘脑上行信息与和没有TRN刺激，以及阐明复杂的输入丘脑的时间过滤的机制。使用最近开发的包含从下丘（IC）到听觉丘脑（背侧和腹侧内侧膝状体或MGB的部分）到AC的完整投射的脑切片制备，我们将系统地扰动TRN以评估其对丘-丘脑-皮质传递的影响。我们将在这项工作中使用激光光刺激，黄素蛋白自发荧光成像和全细胞膜片钳研究TRN对MGB时间滤波的影响的细胞机制。这项工作如果成功，将使我们能够深入了解听觉系统如何处理复杂的信号，并将影响未来的治疗策略设计，例如听力损失或其他沟通障碍患者的假体设备。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Temporal cues are critical for speech perception. Understanding how time-varying signals are transformed in the forebrain will be critical for understanding how the representations of biologically-relevant signals, such as speech, are created in the auditory cortex. The auditory thalamus is a critical checkpoint for all information that reaches the auditory cortex. Despite many decades of scientific investigation, its role has remained unknown. One key to understanding the role of the thalamus likely lies in its interactions with a closely related and mysterious structure known as the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN). I hypothesize that the auditory thalamus acts as a temporal filter and that the filtering properties are actively modulated by the thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) by controlling the firing mode, switching thalamocortical neurons between tonic and burst spiking. The proposed studies will address the impact the auditory thalamus has on ascending information with and without TRN stimulation as well as elucidate the mechanisms of thalamic temporal filtering of complex inputs. Using a recently developed brain slice preparation that contains intact projections from the inferior colliculus (IC), to the auditory thalamus (portions of both dorsal and ventral medial geniculate body, or MGB), to the AC we will systematically perturb the TRN to assess its impact on colliculo- thalamo-cortical transmission. We will use laser photostimulation, flavoprotein autofluorescence imaging and whole cell-patch clamp in this work to investigate the cellular mechanisms of the impact of the TRN on temporal filtering by the MGB. This work, if successful, will allow us to gain insights as to how the auditory system processes complex signals, and will impact future design of therapeutic strategies, such as prosthetic devices, for patients with hearing loss or other disorders of communication.