Automated Multichannel Bidirectional Fiber Optic Rotary Device for Brain-Behavior Studies

本文提出的项目解决了对允许微创手术的方法的迫切需求 小鼠大脑深处的长期光学记录，具有高空间和高时间分辨率。 了解大脑神经活动与行为之间的因果关系是研究之一 NIAAA 的优先事项以及 BRAIN 计划的主要目标之一。已经取得了很多进展 在行为过程中光学扰动和监测神经回路动态。然而，实际 实施仍然在很大程度上仅限于一次大脑中的一个位置，并且仍然迫切需要 用于在大脑深处多个部位同时进行微创长时间光学记录 空间和时间分辨率。多个地点的同时记录将使神经科学家能够获得 通过构建关于生物化学信号的时间和同步性的全球观点来获得新的见解 神经元、投射和不同的大脑区域。他们揭示了正常现象背后的神经机制 与酒精成瘾、药物成瘾、帕金森病和其他疾病相关的行为和行为 自由活动的啮齿动物的神经肌肉和神经精神疾病。 拟议项目旨在设计一种自动化多通道双向 FORJ，允许 通过旋转的光信号同时传输到大脑的多个部位或从大脑的多个部位传输光信号 接口，并且对自由移动鼠标的自然行为的机械影响最小。第一个 目的是构建一个双通道双向 FORJ 原型设备。设计原则，简单来说就是 使用角度编码器动态测量鼠标的移动并自动释放鼠标 通过使用无刷直流电机将扭曲的光纤松开 n 来扭转光缆 360° 旋转次数。为了优化其效率，放卷过程仅自动激活 当角度编码器达到实验确定的阈值时。第二个目标是执行 测试以验证和定量表征整体光通量、传输变化 旋转、启动扭矩以及 FORJ 与数据采集的同步。最后，基于 两通道FORJ，通过扩展通道容量，将建成四通道FORJ。项目 本申请中提出的方法采用了结合光学设计和旋转传感的独特方法 降低光学设计复杂性并减少机械运动部件的数量，以便 提高信噪比。多通道双向 FORJ 可能会导致酒精成瘾 研究界扩大了研究乙醇对学习和决策影响的能力。 更广泛地说，它为神经科学界提供了研究因果关系的可能性 神经元回路的动态生化活动与跨空间和时间尺度的行为之间的关系。

The project proposed herein addresses an urgent need for approaches that allow minimally invasive long term optical recording deep in a mouse brain with high spatial and high temporal resolution. Understanding the causal relationship between brain neural activity and behavior is among the research priorities of NIAAA and one of the main objectives of the BRAIN initiative. A lot of progress has been made to optically perturb and monitor neural circuit dynamics during behavior. However, the practical implementation is still largely limited to one location in the brain at a time, and there is still an urgent need for simultaneous minimally invasive long time optical recording deep in the brain at multiple sites with spatial and temporal resolution. Simultaneous recordings at multiple sites will allow neuroscientists to gain new insights by constructing a global view on the timing and synchrony of biochemical signals among neurons, projections, and different brain regions. They shed light on neural mechanisms underlying normal behavior and behavior associated with alcohol addiction, drug addiction, Parkinson’s disease, and other neuromuscular and neuropsychiatric diseases in freely moving rodents. The proposed project aims to design an automated multichannel bidirectional FORJ that will allow the simultaneous transfer of optical signals to and from multiple sites of the brain through a rotating interface and with minimal mechanical impact on the natural behavior in a freely moving mouse. The first aim is to build a two-channel bidirectional FORJ prototype device. The design principle, in a nutshell, is to dynamically measure, using an angle encoder, the movement of a mouse and automatically release the torsion in the optical cable by engaging a brushless DC motor to unwind the twisted optical fiber by n number of 360° turns. To optimize its efficiency, the unwinding process is activated automatically only when the angle encoder reaches an experimentally determined threshold. The second aim is to perform tests to validate and quantitatively characterize overall light throughput, transmission variation over rotation, starting torque, and synchronization of the FORJ with data acquisition. Finally, on the basis of the two-channel FORJ, a four-channel FORJ will be built by extending the channel capacity. The project proposed in this application takes a unique approach by combining optical design and rotational sensing to reduce the optical design complexity and reduce the number of mechanical moving parts in order to improve signal-to-noise ratio. The multichannel bidirectional FORJ potentially offers the alcohol addiction research community expanded capability to investigate ethanol effects on learning and decision making. More broadly, it offers the neuroscience community the possibilities to investigate the causal relationship between dynamic biochemical activity of neuronal circuits and behavior across spatial and temporal scales.