Memory acquisition and consolidation in layer 1 of the neocortex

越来越多的证据表明，新皮质第一层对学习和记忆很重要。我们有初步证据表明，在一个简单的微刺激任务中，内侧-颞叶环路的最后阶段，即周边皮质与新皮质的连接，对学习至关重要。该投射的轴突终止于新皮质的第1层，并影响第5层锥体神经元中的树突钙离子。此外，已知的是，在新的物体识别行为范式中，嗅周皮质是重要的。在这里，我们建议将这一行为任务适应于我们最近开发的浮动平台方法(“空气轨道”)，以允许这一传统上自由移动的任务在头部固定下进行，从而打开了使用双光子成像等方法来研究行为过程中依赖第一层的可塑性的潜在机制的可能性。

Converging evidence suggests that neocortical layer 1 is important for learning and memory. We have preliminary evidence that the final stage of the medial-temporal loop, the perirhinal cortex connection to neocortex, is vital for learning in a simple microstimulation task. The axons of this projection terminate in layer 1 of the neocortex and affect dendritic calcium in layer 5 pyramidal neurons. Moreover, the perirhinal cortex is known to be important in the novel object recognition behavioural paradigm. Here, we propose to adapt this behavioural task to our recently developed floating-platform approach (“Air-Track”) to allow this traditionally freely-moving task to be carried out under head-fixation opening up the possibility of using approaches such as 2-photon imaging to investigate the underlying mechanisms of layer-1 dependent plasticity during behaviour.