Apparatus for recording in vivo extracellular neural activity in rodents

了解大脑在信息快速整合和存储过程中发生的电生理变化是行为神经科学家面临的一个关键挑战。 鉴于了解这些变化通常需要侵入性技术，啮齿动物神经系统通常用作此类实验的模型。 本申请中要求的设备是高度专业化的，以允许同时刺激和记录来自麻醉啮齿动物的离散脑区域的神经活动。 使用该设备进行的实验将为特定区域的活动如何影响其他解剖学互连区域的处理提供重要见解。 所要求的设备包括一种旨在将麻醉啮齿动物的头部固定在稳定位置并允许细导线精确地指向离散大脑区域的仪器。 然后，这些区域的神经活动可以通过低强度人工刺激的模式来诱发，并使用电放大器来测量。在生理记录过程中，也可以将少量感兴趣的药理学试剂引入离散的脑区域，以研究所观察到的效应背后的特定神经递质和受体。 虽然这种设备在神经科学中有着广泛的应用，但它最初将用于旨在解决暴露于急性应激改变对学习和记忆至关重要的大脑回路兴奋性的机制的实验。 在平行实验中，将在自由行为的大鼠中测试所发现的机制的重要性，以确定其与学习和记忆的相关性。 预计这些实验将对理解经验因素（如急性应激）如何影响包括人类在内的一系列哺乳动物物种的认知过程（如学习和记忆）具有重要意义。

Understanding the electrophysiological changes that occur in the brain during the rapid integration and storage of information is a critical challenge for behavioral neuroscientists. Given the invasive techniques typically needed to understand these changes, the rodent nervous system is commonly used as a model for such experiments. The equipment requested in the present application is highly specialized to allow for simultaneous stimulation and recording of neural activity from discrete brain areas of anesthetized rodents. Experiments performed with this equipment will provide important insights into how activity in specific areas affects processing in other anatomically interconnected areas. The equipment requested includes an instrument designed to secure an anesthetized rodent's head in a stable position and allow thin wires to be precisely directed at discrete brain areas. Neural activity in these areas can then be evoked by patterns of low intensity artificial stimulation and measured using an electrical amplifier. During physiological recordings, small volumes of pharmacological agents of interest can also be introduced into discrete brain areas to study the specific neurotransmitters and receptors underlying the observed effects. While this equipment has a broad range of applications in neuroscience, it will initially be used in experiments designed to address the mechanisms through which the exposure to acute stress alters the excitability of brain circuits critical for learning and memory. In parallel experiments, the importance of the mechanisms discovered will be tested in freely behaving rats for their relevance to learning and memory. It is expected that these experiments will have significant implications for understanding how experiential factors, such as acute stress, affect cognitive processes such as learning and memory in a range of mammalian species including humans.