Functional Approach to Communication Sound Processing in Mouse Auditory Cortex

项目总结 对通信声音处理的神经基础的听觉研究通常是进行的 而不考虑自然发生通信的社交环境。因此，听觉是如何 系统能够检测、区分和分类通信呼叫，尽管自然说话者可变性是 人们对此知之甚少，社会互动影响这一过程的机制也是如此。我们的长期合作 目标是揭示听觉系统编码的电路、细胞和分子机制 社会获得性发声，从而导致自然交流处理的潜在缺陷 推断出来的。我们在超声波通信的鼠标模型中进行了研究，在该模型中有两类呼叫(即 由幼鼠和成年雄鼠发出的)具有不同的含义和行为水平- 与女性的性关系。这里的目标是揭示这些呼叫类别的表示是如何 通过分级处理从初级听觉皮质区域转换到更高阶的听觉皮质区域，以及如何不同- 与通话相关的自然社交体验会产生代码更改。我们的中心假设是，反式- 编队改进了呼叫编码，以促进沟通任务，以及社交体验和神经化学 随着行为相关性的获得，系统会修改这种神经转换。这项研究的基本原理 一旦我们知道了听觉皮质的神经可塑性塑造行为编码的方式 相关通话中，我们将能够利用转基因优势对小鼠模型进行详细剖析 促成这些变化的机制。利用清醒小鼠的细胞外电生理学，我们将测试我们的 有三个具体目标的假说。首先，我们将确定神经转换是如何正常工作的 通过记录来自认识到行为相关呼叫重要性的动物的声音来优化行为相关呼叫的编码 幼崽的叫声(母亲)。第二，我们将确定与幼崽的社会经验如何改变这种神经转化-- 通过录制帮助照顾幼崽的处女(共同照顾者)的信息。第三，我们将确定一个密钥如何 与幼犬叫声识别有关的社会神经化学物质雌激素，与幼犬护理经验共同作用，改变 通过记录来自荷尔蒙操控的辅助护理人员的神经转化。这项建议的意义在于 它独特的能力在动物的感觉和社会/行为神经科学之间架起了科学鸿沟的桥梁 一种模型，在该模型中，我们可以对系统的高级听觉功能(通信)进行进一步研究 深入到分子水平。

PROJECT SUMMARY Auditory research into the neural basis of communication sound processing has generally been conducted without accounting for the social contexts in which communication naturally occurs. Hence, how the auditory system is able detect, discriminate and categorize communication calls despite natural speaker variability is poorly understood, as are the mechanisms by which social interactions affect this processing. Our long-term goal is to uncover the circuit, cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the auditory system's encoding of socially-acquired vocalizations, so that causes underlying deficits in natural communication processing can be inferred. We pursue this in a mouse model of ultrasound communication wherein two categories of calls (those emitted by mouse pups and by adult males) carry different meanings and can have different levels of behav- ioral relevance to a female. The objective here is to uncover how the representation of these call categories is transformed by hierarchical processing from a primary to a higher-order auditory cortical field, and how differ- ent natural social experiences with the calls produce coding changes. Our central hypothesis is that the trans- formation refines call coding to facilitate communication tasks, and that social experience and neurochemical systems modify this neural transformation as behavioral relevance is acquired. The rationale for this research is that once we know the manner by which neural plasticity in auditory cortex shapes the coding of behaviorally relevant calls, we will be able to exploit the transgenic advantages of the mouse model to dissect the detailed mechanisms enabling these changes. Using extracellular electrophysiology in awake mice, we will test our hy- pothesis with three specific aims. First, we will determine how the neural transformation normally functions to refine the encoding of behaviorally relevant calls by recording from animals that recognize the significance of pup calls (mothers). Second, we will determine how social experience with pups modifies this neural transfor- mation by recording from virgin females that help care for pups (co-carers). Third, we will determine how a key social neurochemical implicated in pup call recognition, estrogen, works with pup care experience to modify the neural transformation by recording from hormonally manipulated co-carers. This proposal's significance lies in its unique ability to bridge the scientific gap between sensory and social/behavioral neuroscience in an animal model in which we can pursue future studies of a high level auditory function (communication) from a system down to a molecular level.