SPATIO-TEMPORAL CODING OF ODOR

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 也许嗅神经科学中最重要的争论是，嗅觉输入的时间转换是否调节了气味的感知。动态气味羽流结构产生的时间反应也会影响气味辨别，这一观察结果混淆了这场辩论。我们的长期目标集中在了解天线叶(AL)局部电路在建立来自AL的时间图案化输出中的功能作用，以及这些时空表征如何影响气味感知。这些问题是对人类正常嗅觉功能的基本理解的核心。然而，获得这种理解所需的实验是侵入性的，因此，我们将Sphinx Moth作为一个模型系统。目前的建议试图首先描述和控制刺激动力学(包括气味刺激的非分子属性，如刺激浓度、持续时间和间歇性)，它可以影响AL和感觉知觉的时空反应。我们的方法将使用行为分析来描述嗅觉歧视和系统变化的刺激条件下的特征。在这里，我们将建立一个浓度阈值，低于这个阈值，动物无法：1)嗅觉气味；2)辨别气味。接下来，我们将量化刺激持续时间和间歇性对辨别阈值的影响。这项行为学工作建立了产生正常嗅觉行为的刺激动力学参数，并将为我们复制刺激条件和使用神经生理学方法表征AL群体反应提供参考数据。在这里，我们将使用已建立的方法来量化记录的神经群体在响应时间内对不同气味的独特反应作为不同刺激动态的函数。该提案的最终目的是评估两个已知的时间成分对AL反应的相对贡献，即神经爆裂和沉默的缓慢模式以及局部场电位振荡。我们提出了三种方法来破坏振荡和神经放电活动之间的关系，并量化气味驱动反应的唯一性对我们种群的影响。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Perhaps the most important debate in olfactory neuroscience is whether the temporal transformation of olfactory input mediates the perception of odor. Confounding this debate is the observation that dynamic odor plume structure produces temporal responses that also affect odor discrimination. Our long term goals focus on understanding the functional role of the antennal lobe (AL) local circuitry in establishing temporally patterned output from the AL and how these spatio-temporal representations affect odor perception. These issues are central to basic understanding of normal olfactory function in humans. However, the experiments required to gain this understanding are invasive, thus, we the Sphinx Moth as a model system. The current proposal seeks to first characterize and control for stimulus dynamics (which include non-molecular properties of odor stimuli, such as stimulus concentration, duration and intermittency) that can affect both spatio-temporal responses from the AL and sensory perceptions. Our approach will use behavioral assays to characterize olfactory discrimination and under systematically varying stimulus conditions. Here we will establish the concentration thresholds below which animals are unable to: 1) detect odorants; and 2) discriminate between odorants. Next, we will quantify the effects of stimulus duration and intermittency on discrimination thresholds. This behavioral work establishes the stimulus dynamics parameters under which normal olfactory behaviors are produced and will provide reference data with which we can replicate stimulus conditions and use neurophysiological methods to characterize AL population responses. Here we will use established methods to quantify how uniquely a recorded neural population responds to different odorants across response time as a function of varying stimulus dynamics. The final aim of the proposal seeks to assess the relative contributions of two known temporal components to AL responses, slow patterns of neural bursting and silence and local field potential oscillations. We propose 3 methods to disrupt the relationship between the oscillations and the neural spiking activity and quantify the effect on our population measures of uniqueness of odor-driven responses.