Development of connectivity in mouse visual cortex

描述(申请人提供)：哺乳动物的皮质是一个复杂的、高度组织的神经回路，它处理感觉信息并产生运动输出，体现了我们的大部分行为。大脑皮层回路内的局部连通性很可能对执行的计算至关重要。这项建议旨在探讨这种连接是如何在视觉处理的发展过程中建立的。我们将使用多电极记录和感受场表征的定量模型来确定感觉编码在发育过程中是如何演变的。此外，通过分析来自同时记录的神经元的信号或其他“光学探测”技术，应该可以建立连接图，并了解连接的神经元的属性。然后，我们将应用这些技术来解决单眼剥夺导致的视觉反应和连通性的变化，这是活动依赖重塑的重要模型。最终，这些信息将为大脑皮层发育和信息处理的理论模型提供关键的测试和约束。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The mammalian cortex is an intricate, highly-organized neural circuit which processes sensory information and generates motor outputs that embody much of our behavior. It is likely that the local connectivity within cortical circuits is crucial to the computations performed. This proposal aims to explore how this connectivity is established during development in relation to visual processing. We will use multi-electrode recording along with quantitative models for receptive field characterization to determine how sensory encoding evolves during development. Further, by analyzing signals from simultaneously recorded neurons or other "optical probing" techniques, it should be possible to establish graphs of connectivity, and understand the properties of connected neurons. We will then apply these techniques to address the changes in both visual responses and connectivity resulting from monocular deprivation, which is an important model for activity dependent remodeling. In the end, this information will provide crucial tests and constraints for theoretical models of cortical development and information processing.