Neural Circuits for the Cortical Control of the Optokinetic Reflex

 描述(申请人提供)：哺乳动物的大脑皮层有能力控制和调节由皮质下结构介导的先天反射行为。通过调整先天和反射行为以适应当时的情况，或者根据过去的经验调整这些行为，大脑皮层极大地扩展了哺乳动物的行为体系。尽管大脑皮层在调节皮质下调节行为方面起着基础性的作用，但人们对其潜在的机制知之甚少。解决这个问题对于我们理解哺乳动物大脑皮层执行的最基本功能至关重要。这项建议阐述了大脑皮层调节视动反射的机制，视动反射是一种天生的行为，在缓慢的自我运动或环境运动中，这种行为对于稳定视网膜上的图像至关重要。这项拟议的研究将在小鼠身上进行，因为有大量的遗传、病毒、光学和电生理工具专门为研究这种动物的神经回路功能而开发。在人类中，视皮层发育迟缓以及视皮层的损伤或中风都会严重损害视动能力。视动功能是医学实践中标准神经学测试的一部分，因为它简单，对皮质下和皮质功能的诊断能力强。了解调节视动功能各种特性的基本机制将不可避免地有助于扩大这一简单而广泛使用的神经学测试对人类患者的诊断能力。大脑皮层控制皮层下调节的先天行为的能力代表了一种基本的进化适应。这种控制在脑化程度较高的生物体中变得尤为明显，人类就是最好的例子。揭示大脑皮质控制皮质下结构活动的电路机制，将为了解大脑皮质如何协调健康和疾病中的先天行为提供至关重要的见解。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The cerebral cortex of mammals has the ability to control and modulate innate, reflexive behaviors mediated by subcortical structures. By adjusting innate and reflexive behaviors to the prevailing conditions or by adapting these behaviors according to past experiences the cortex greatly expands the behavioral repertoire of mammals. Despite the fundamental role that the cortex plays on regulating subcortically mediated behaviors very little is known about the underlying mechanisms. Solving this problem is crucial for our understanding of among the most basic functions performed by the cerebral cortex of mammals. This proposal addresses the mechanisms by which the cortex modulate the performance of the optokinetic reflex, an innate behavior that is essential for stabilizing images on retinas during slow self motions or motions of the environment. The proposed study will be performed in mice because of the large palette of genetic, viral, optical and electrophysiological tools especially developed to study neural circuit function in this animal. In humans, both developmental retardation of the visual cortex as well as lesions or strokes to the visual cortex can profoundly impair optokinetic performance. Optokinetic performance is part of the standard neurological tests in the medical practice because of its simplicity and diagnostic power with regard to subcortical and cortical function. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms that regulate the various properties of optokinetic performance will inevitably contribute to the expansion of the diagnostic power of this simple and widely used neurological test on human patients. The ability of cortex to control subcortically mediated innate behaviors represents a fundamental evolutionary adaptation. This control becomes particularly pronounced in organisms with high levels of encephalization, humans being the supreme example. Revealing the circuit mechanisms through which the cortex controls the activity of subcortical structures will provide crucial insight into how the cortex orchestrates innate behavior in health and disease.