Synaptic and Circuit Mechanisms of Pheromonal Learning

描述(由申请者提供)：与其他人的社会经历的记忆可能非常强大，特别是那些在高度唤醒状态下产生的记忆，如生殖接触。然而，大脑存储有关社会经验的信息的方式仍然是个谜。我们建议的广泛目标是定义在成年信息素印记过程中发生的神经变化，这是啮齿动物交配触发的一种有效的个人识别记忆形式。我们的目标是建立准确的突触机制和由性经验灌输的化学感觉记忆痕迹的电路水平效应。我们首先使用基因工具对在交配过程中被种马信息素激活的细胞进行荧光标记，以便在感受到体外细胞电生理学后对这些神经元进行有针对性的分析(目标1)。我们还开发了新的方法来可视化学习如何在行为过程中影响信息素处理电路，这最终应该有助于阐明更广泛的社会行为的神经基础(目标2)。这项工作共同连接了互补的细胞和网络规模，为长期存在的化学感觉学习模式提供了新的视角。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Memories of social experiences with other individuals can be extremely powerful, especially those produced during heightened arousal states such as reproductive encounters. The way the brain stores information about social experience, however, remains enigmatic. The broad goal of our proposal is to define the neural changes that occur during adult pheromonal imprinting, a potent form of individual recognition memory triggered by mating in rodents. We aim to establish the precise synaptic mechanisms and circuit-level effects of the chemosensory memory trace instilled by sexual experience. We first use genetic tools for fluorescently tagging the cells activated by stud pheromones during mating, allowing targeted analysis of these neurons after sensory experience with ex vivo cellular electrophysiology (Aim 1). We also develop novel approaches for visualizing how learning affects pheromone processing circuits during behavior, which should ultimately help illuminate the neural underpinnings of a much wider range of social behaviors (Aim 2). Together, this work bridges complementary cellular and network scales to provide new views of a long- standing model of chemosensory learning.