Deciphering dopaminergic circuits required for food anticipatory activity in mice

项目摘要/摘要 考虑到现代社会食物的过剩，人们很容易忽视喂食的重要性 自然界中的动物。对于大多数动物来说，食物是极其稀缺的，而明智地把握进食机会是 对于生存来说是必不可少的。因此，昼夜节律系统已经进化到接受许多不同的刺激- 即光、温度、食物，甚至恐惧--以保持生物过程的协调，并允许 适应不断变化的条件。相对于喂食，辨别时间的能力由来已久 研究，追溯到一百多年前的行为观察 蜜蜂和老鼠。然而，行为适应定时进食背后的神经回路 不断地逃出我们的掌控。在这个项目中，我将利用条件遗传学、病毒修复和 化学遗传学工具，以确定所需的多巴胺种群(解剖学和遗传学) 用于实验小鼠食物预期活动的行为表达。从这里开始，我们将建造一个更多 一组选定的多巴胺神经元如何投射到纹状体的综合特征 可以通知大脑的计时系统有食物可用。

Project Summary/Abstract Given the over-abundance of food in modern society, it is easy to lose sight of the importance of feeding to animals in nature. For most animals, food is extremely scarce and being wise to opportunities to eat is essential for survival. As such, the circadian system has evolved to receive a number of different stimuli— i.e., light, temperature, food, and even fear—to keep biological processes coordinated and allow for adaptation to ever changing conditions. The ability to tell time relative to feeding has a long history of research, going back more than one hundred years hundred years with behavioral observations of honeybees and rats. However, the neural circuitry behind adaptation of behavior to timed feeding has continually escaped our grasp. In this project, I will utilize conditional genetics, viral restorations, and chemogenetic tools to identify the dopamine population (both anatomically and genetically) that is required for the behavioral expression of food anticipatory activity in lab mice. From here, we will build out a more comprehensive characterization of how a select population of dopamine neurons projecting to the striatum can inform the time keeping systems of the brain that food is available.