Functional Approach to Communication Sound Processing in Mouse Auditory Cortex

项目摘要 对通信声音处理的神经基础的听觉研究已经普遍进行 而不考虑交流自然发生的社会背景。因此，听觉如何 系统能够检测、区分和分类通信呼叫， 人们对这一点知之甚少，社会互动影响这一过程的机制也是如此。我们的长期 我们的目标是揭示听觉系统编码的电路、细胞和分子机制， 社会获得的发声，因此，在自然沟通处理的潜在缺陷的原因， 推断。我们在超声通信的小鼠模型中追求这一点，其中两类呼叫（那些 由幼鼠和成年雄性小鼠发出的）具有不同的含义，并且可以具有不同的水平， 与女性的口头联系这里的目标是揭示这些呼叫类别的表示是如何 通过从初级到高阶听觉皮层场的分层处理进行转换，以及如何不同- 耳鼻喉科的自然社会经验与呼叫产生编码的变化。我们的中心假设是，跨- 形成细化呼叫编码，以促进沟通任务，社会经验和神经化学 系统在获得行为相关性时修改该神经转换。这项研究的基本原理 一旦我们知道了听觉皮层的神经可塑性塑造行为编码的方式， 相关电话，我们将能够利用转基因小鼠模型的优势，详细解剖 推动这些变化的机制。使用清醒小鼠的细胞外电生理学，我们将测试我们的hy- 有三个具体目标的假设。首先，我们将确定神经变换通常如何起作用， 通过记录动物识别的重要性来完善行为相关呼叫的编码 母亲的呼唤（Mothers）其次，我们将确定与幼崽的社会经验如何修改这种神经transfor- 通过记录帮助照顾幼崽的处女雌性（共同照顾者）的信息。第三，我们将确定如何一个关键 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一起作用， 通过记录来自神经操纵的共同照顾者的神经转化。这一建议的意义在于， 其独特的能力，以弥合科学之间的差距感官和社会/行为神经科学的动物 模型，在该模型中，我们可以从一个系统中继续对高级听觉功能（通信）进行未来的研究 降低到分子水平。

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.