Organization and Function of Mouse Visual Cortical Areas

描述(申请人提供)：视觉感知是由视网膜、视觉皮质和皮质下大脑结构中神经元之间的复杂相互作用所调节的。视觉对人类和其他灵长类动物的重要性反映在大脑皮质中用于处理视觉信息的巨大比例上。因此，视觉处理的缺陷尤其令人衰弱，不仅源于眼睛的异常，也源于大脑皮层回路的异常。例如，儿童时期的斜视或弱视可能会对处理视觉信息的大脑皮层回路产生长期影响。也有证据表明，某些形式的阅读障碍是由中枢视觉系统异常引起的。神经系统的功能依赖于由多种神经元类型组成的神经元网络之间的复杂相互作用。这些研究旨在揭示小鼠视觉皮层区域的组织和功能。这些研究将为利用过去几年神经科学前沿开发的新的遗传、病毒和转基因方法详细研究视觉皮质回路的功能提供一个重要的框架。由于这些工具在小鼠身上最强大，许多皮层回路的组织和功能的基本原理从小鼠到人类都是保守的，因此小鼠系统的发展对未来的研究具有极其重要的意义。这三个目标将揭示：9个小鼠纹外视区神经元的视觉感受野特性；投射到纹外视区的V1神经元的功能特性；以及纹外视区和皮质下结构之间的联系。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Visual perception is mediated by complex interactions amongst neurons in the retina, visual cortex, and subcortical brain structures. The importance of vision to humans and other primates is reflected in the enormous percentage of cerebral cortex devoted to processing visual information. Thus, deficits in visual processing are particularly debilitating and arise from abnormalities not only in the eye, but also in cortical circuitry. For example, strabismus or amblyopia during childhood can have long-lasting effects on the cortical circuits that process visual information. There is also evidence that some forms of dyslexia result from central visual system abnormalities. The function of the nervous system is dependent on complex interactions between networks of neurons composed of multiple neuron types. The proposed studies are aimed at revealing the organization and function of mouse visual cortical areas. Such studies will provide a crucial framework for detailed functional investigations of visual cortical circuits using novel genetic, viral and transgenic approaches tha have been developed at the cutting edge of neuroscience over the last several years. Because these tools are most powerful in mice and many basic principles of the organization and function of cortical circuits are conserved from mice to humans, development of the mouse system represents in extremely important direction for future studies. The 3 aims will reveal: the visual receptive field properties of neurons in each of nine mouse extrastriate visual areas; the functional properties of V1 neurons that project to extrastriate visual areas; and the connections between extrastriate visual areas and to subcortical structures.