Spatial taste coding in mouse gustatory cortex

项目摘要 摄入决定在许多人类疾病中发挥着关键作用，包括肥胖、糖尿病、厌食症， 高血压和冠状动脉疾病制约这些决定的最重要因素之一是 味觉哺乳动物的味觉皮层（gustatory cortex，GC）参与味觉学习 和行为，以及电生理和成像研究表明，味觉质量信息编码在 特异性和广泛反应性味觉激活神经元的活动。不过，目前尚不清楚味道如何 质量是在这个大脑区域空间上组织起来的。我们将使用双光子（2 P）成像系统地 在GC的宽度上绘制味觉质量图，评估其具有重叠组织的假设， 在前极端和后极端可能过度表现特定的口味。我们还将联合收割机 2 P成像，通过Cre依赖性表达或 逆行标记最后，我们将评估味觉学习后GC的味觉反应。总的来说，这些 实验将揭示味觉是如何在细胞水平上在这个关键的大脑区域组织起来的，以及它们是如何在细胞水平上组织起来的。 都被行为所改变。目标1将沿着前后轴系统地绘制味觉反应， 以及背腹位置和深度。目标2将比较Thy 1- 表达锥体细胞和表达GAD的中间神经元的所有标记细胞的更大的人口， GC.味觉反应也将在投射到对侧皮层或杏仁核的细胞中进行检查。目标3 将研究味觉厌恶学习和消退后GC神经元的味觉反应。

Project Summary Ingestive decisions play a key role in a number of human conditions including obesity, diabetes, anorexia, hypertension, and coronary artery disease. One of the most important factors regulating these decisions is the sense of taste. The gustatory cortex (GC) in mammals has been shown to be involved in taste learning and behavior, and electrophysiological and imaging studies suggest taste quality information is encoded in the activity of both specific and broadly responsive taste-activated neurons. However, it is not clear how taste quality is spatially organized across this brain area. We will use two-photon (2P) imaging to systematically map taste quality across the breadth of GC, evaluating the hypothesis that it has an overlapping organization, with likely overrepresentation of particular tastes at the anterior and posterior extremes. We will also combine 2P imaging with specific identification of cell types, accomplished by either Cre-dependent expression or retrograde labeling. Finally we will evaluate taste responses in GC following taste learning. Collectively, these experiments will shed light on how tastes are organized in this key brain area at a cellular level, and how they are modified with behavior. Aim 1 will systematically map taste responses along the anterior-posterior axis, and also with respect to dorsal-ventral location and depth. Aim 2 will compare taste responses in Thy1- expressing pyramidal cells and GAD-expressing interneurons to the greater population of all labeled cells in GC. Taste responses will also be examined in cells that project to contralateral cortex, or to amygdala. Aim 3 will investigate taste responses in GC neurons following taste aversion learning and extinction.