Understanding functional transformations carried out by the bulb

项目摘要/摘要 嗅觉功能受损与衰老过程以及许多人类疾病有关。 我们对大脑的不完全理解使我们很难理解其背后的机制 这些感觉缺陷和其他精神障碍。了解感觉信息是如何编码的，以及 神经回路的转化将有助于确定构成这些挑战的基本机制。对许多人来说 对于动物来说，气味对于识别和定位食物、配偶和危险至关重要。气味识别需要 识别强度不同的特定气味，而定位涉及检测浓度 在时间和空间上变化的个人资料。这两个过程都必须在刺激嵌入到 复杂的化学环境。这需要嗅觉系统识别并保持注意力- 气味的不变表示，同时检测其变化的浓度梯度并分割其 从环境中存在的其他化学刺激中感知。了解大脑是如何实现这些的 过程是理解知觉稳定性的关键。这项提议的目标是定义神经回路 支持气味识别和在体内调整对复杂嗅觉场景的敏感度的能力。首先，我们 将定义气味浓度的变化如何通过嗅球电路进行编码和转换。 接下来，我们将研究不同浓度或持续时间的气味暴露对嗅球的影响。 对未来气味刺激的反应。然后我们将检验这一假设，即嗅球适应 动态范围调整涉及在不同气味背景下保持灵敏度。这项提议将 用成像方法测量嗅觉感受器的神经活动来回答这些问题 神经元输入，以及支配嗅球肾小球的二尖瓣/簇状细胞输出。我们将配对这一战略 中驱动功能转换的底层机制。 灯泡。这项提议的影响将是生成一份关于两个人如何 感知功能由嗅球执行，这是关键的第一步，最终将 具有自然主义行为的生理学。

Project Summary/Abstract Compromised olfactory function is associated with the aging process, as well as a number of human diseases. Our incomplete understanding of the brain makes it challenging to comprehend the mechanisms that underlie these sensory deficits and other psychiatric disorders. Understanding how sensory information is encoded and transformed by neural circuits will help define the basic mechanisms that underlie these challenges. For many animals, smell is critical for recognizing and locating food, mates and dangers. Odor recognition requires the identification of a specific smell that can vary in intensity, while localization involves detecting a concentration profile that varies in time and space. Both processes must be carried out while the stimulus is embedded in a complex chemical context. This requires that the olfactory system recognize and maintain a concentration- invariant representation of the odor, while detecting its changing concentration gradient and segmenting its percept from other chemical stimuli present in the environment. Understanding how the brain carries out these processes is key to understanding perceptual stability. The goal of this proposal is to define the neural circuits that support odor recognition and the ability to adjust sensitivity to complex olfactory scenes in vivo. First, we will define how changes in odor concentration are encoded and transformed across the olfactory bulb circuit. Next, we will examine how different concentrations or durations of odor exposure impact olfactory bulb responses to future odor stimulation. We will then test the hypothesis that olfactory bulb adaptation underlies dynamic range adjustments involved in maintaining sensitivity in different odor backgrounds. This proposal will answer these questions using an imaging approach to measure the neural activity from the olfactory receptor neuron input, and the mitral/tufted cell output that innervate olfactory bulb glomeruli. We will pair this strategy with a mechanistic toolkit to dissect the underlying mechanisms that drive functional transformations in the bulb. The impact of this proposal will be to generate a comprehensive mechanistic description of how two perceptual functions are carried out by the olfactory bulb, which are the critical first steps that will ultimately link physiology with naturalistic behavior.