Modeling the Neuronal Processing in the Olfactory Bulb

描述（由申请人提供）：大脑如何使用动作电位编码感觉信息？是只与平均发射率相关，还是峰值的精确时间重要？由于峰值的近同步在驱动下游神经元方面是有效的，它可能是神经编码的一个重要特征。可能，大脑会利用这两种类型的编码，根据手头的任务来强调其中一种。在最近对斑马鱼嗅球的实验中，观察到涉及近同步和振荡的复杂时间行为，表明信息传输的多路复用，近同步和非同步尖峰携带不同的感官输入信息。在提议的项目中，将与实验密切合作开发嗅球电路的生物物理详细计算模型，以揭示神经亚群的多路复用和近同步的机制。这些结果也可能揭示其他大脑功能，其中时间相关性和振荡似乎是相关的（例如，注意力，感知，睡眠，记忆巩固/检索）。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): How does the brain encode sensory information using action potentials? Is only the mean firing rate relevant or is the precise timing of the spikes significant? Since near-synchrony of spikes is effective in driving downstream neurons, it could be an important feature of the neural code. Possibly, the brain makes use of both types of encoding, emphasizing one or the other, depending on the task at hand. In recent experiments on the olfactory bulb in zebrafish, complex temporal behavior involving near-synchrony and oscillations has been observed that suggests a multiplexing of the information transmission, with near-synchronous and asynchronous spikes carrying different information about the sensory input. In the proposed project, a biophysically detailed computational model of the circuitry of the olfactory bulb will be developed in close collaboration with experiments, in order to uncover the mechanisms underlying the multiplexing and the near-synchronization of neural sub-populations. The results may also shed light on other brain functions where temporal correlations and oscillations appear to be relevant (e.g., attention, perception, sleep, memory consolidation/retrieval).