Adaptive sensory coding in rat somatosensory cortex

大鼠体感皮层的自适应感觉编码

• 批准号: 7643775
• 负责人: ERIC E THOMSON
• 金额: $ 5.34万
• 依托单位: DUKE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2007
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2007-07-01 至 2010-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7643775
• 关键词: Affect; Area; Attention; Behavioral; Behavioral Paradigm; Biological Models; Categories; Classification; Clinical; Code; Development; Discrimination; Effectiveness; Goals; Impairment; Implant; Individual; Laboratories; Learning; Minor; Neurons; Patients; Peripheral Nerves; Population; Property; Rattus; Relative (related person); Research; Rewards; Secondary to; Sensory; Somatosensory Cortex; Stimulus; System; Testing; Training; Vibrissae; Width; base; design; improved; meetings; novel; relating to nervous system; response; sensor; sensory cortex; sensory discrimination

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal is to characterize learning-dependent changes in sensory coding strategies in early somatosensory cortices. Ultimately, we aim to characterize such changes both at a phenomenological and mechanistic level. The present research focuses on determining whether such plasticity exists. Specifically, we will test the hypothesis that learning a whisker-dependent sensory discrimination task increases the accuracy of the sensory code in neuronal ensembles in the first and second somatosensory cortices (SI and Sll) of the rat. We have previously quantified the rat's ability to behaviorally discriminate between a narrow and wide aperture using its whiskers. We will first create a version of this task in which the rats will discriminate between two aperture width categories ('narrow' and 'wide'), each of which contains two widths. We will design the stimulus categories so that the distance between widths within a category is identical to the minimum distance between widths across categories. After designing the task, we will implant multielectrode arrays in SI and Sll and record from neuronal populations while rats learn the task. We predict that SI and Sll will discriminate the between-class widths (i.e., those behaviorally discriminated) better than within-class widths (i.e., those which the rat does not behaviorally discriminate) that are separated by the same physical distance. We will quantify discrimination with percent correct of a classifier that estimates aperture width based on the neural response. There are considerable potential clinical rewards for characterizing the mechanisms of cortical plasticity. If early sensory cortices adapt their coding strategies via behavioral training, this would offer great hope for the development of neuroprosthetics in patients with peripheral nerve damage, suggest behavioral paradigms for retraining those with minor sensory impairments (e.g., dyslexics), and suggest potential pharmacological manipulations to maximize the effectiveness of such treatments. Because of the ease with which rats learn whisker-dependent behavioral tasks, and the relative simplicity of the cortical representation of whisker stimuli, the rat whisker system is an ideal model system for examining such phenomena.

描述（由申请人提供）：长期目标是表征早期体感觉皮层中感觉编码策略的学习依赖变化。最终，我们的目标是在现象学和机械水平上描述这些变化。目前的研究重点是确定这种可塑性是否存在。具体来说，我们将验证这样一个假设，即学习依赖于须的感觉辨别任务可以提高大鼠第一和第二体感觉皮层（SI和Sll）神经元群中感觉代码的准确性。我们之前已经量化了老鼠使用胡须区分窄孔和宽孔的能力。我们将首先创建这个任务的一个版本，在这个任务中，老鼠将区分两个孔径宽度类别（“窄”和“宽”），每个类别都包含两个宽度。我们将设计刺激类别，使类别内宽度之间的距离等于类别间宽度之间的最小距离。在设计任务后，我们将在SI和Sll中植入多电极阵列，并在大鼠学习任务时记录神经元群。我们预测SI和Sll会更好地区分类间宽度（即那些行为上有区别的宽度），而不是由相同物理距离分隔的类内宽度（即那些大鼠没有行为上的区别的宽度）。我们将用基于神经反应估计孔径宽度的分类器的正确率来量化判别。有相当大的潜在临床奖励表征皮层可塑性的机制。如果早期感觉皮质通过行为训练调整其编码策略，这将为周围神经损伤患者的神经修复术的发展带来很大的希望，为那些有轻微感觉障碍（如阅读障碍）的患者提供再训练的行为范式，并提出潜在的药理学操作以最大化此类治疗的有效性。由于大鼠学习依赖于须的行为任务很容易，而且须刺激的皮层表征相对简单，因此大鼠须系统是研究此类现象的理想模型系统。