Neurophysiological equipment for network-level analyses in sensorimotor neuroscience

动物模型在我们对大脑功能的理解中发挥了核心作用。虽然在小鼠等较低级动物模型上的研究，为以特定细胞的精度操纵大脑回路提供了现成的手段，但需要在高阶动物模型上的研究，以了解相互关联的大脑网络中的信息流，其复杂性接近人类。为了更好地了解大脑中分布式网络中的神经通讯动态，政府要求拨款购买一种新的神经生理刺激和记录系统，该系统包括一些关键功能。首先，高通道数（128个独立通道）允许通过大脑网络的多个节点记录神经活动。其次，所要求的系统包含一种新颖的“刺激-记录”模式，允许人们在刺激脉冲的几毫秒内记录神经活动。第三，该系统可以无线记录肌肉活动，而不需要外部连接。当与实验室中可以测量行为的其他设备（例如，眼球运动和触摸行为）集成时，该设备将允许对大脑中的神经通信有新的见解，使我们能够及时解决诸如在视觉引导动作期间皮层和皮层下部位的协调以及相互连接的大脑区域在刺激期间如何反应等问题。该团队由成熟的实验学家（PI Corneil和co-PI Goodale）以及新兴的计算神经科学家（合作者Mohsenzadeh和Muller）组成，因此该团队与他们的HQP一起准备在感觉运动控制方面的各种紧迫问题上进行合作。重要的是，所要求的设备将增强西方神经科学家通过将其扩展到高阶动物模型进行网络级分析的显著势头，这些动物模型的大脑具有许多人类存在的复杂性，最终促进我们对人类大脑功能的理解。

Animal models have played a central role in our understanding of brain function. While work in lower animal models, such as mice, offers ready means to manipulate brain circuits with cell-specific precision, work in higher-order animal models is needed to understand information flow within an interconnected brain network whose complexity approaches that seen in humans. To better understand the dynamics of neural communication throughout a distributed network in the brain, funds are requested for the purchase of a new neurophysiological stimulation and recording system that includes a number of key capabilities. First, the high-channel count (128 independent channels) permits the recording of neural activity throughout multiple nodes of a brain network. Second, the requested system incorporates a novel “stim-then-record” mode that allows one to record neural activity within milliseconds of a stimulation pulse. Third, the system enables wireless recording of muscle activity without the need for externalized connections. When integrated with other equipment in the lab that can measure behaviour (e.g., eye movements and reaching behaviours), this equipment will permit new insights into neural communication in the brain, allowing us to address timely questions such as the coordination of cortical and subcortical sites during visually-guided actions, and how interconnected brain areas respond during stimulation. The team consists of established experimentalists (PI Corneil and co-PI Goodale) as well as emerging computational neuroscientists (collaborators Mohsenzadeh and Muller), hence the team is poised along with their HQP to collaborate on a variety of pressing questions in sensorimotor control. Importantly, the requested equipment will potentiate the significant momentum for network-level analyses by Western Neuroscientists by extending it into higher-order animal models whose brains are characterized by many of the complexities present in humans, ultimately advancing our understanding human brain function.