Apparatus for recording in vivo extracellular neural activity in rodents

对行为神经学家来说，理解在信息的快速整合和存储过程中发生在大脑中的电生理变化是一个关键的挑战。考虑到理解这些变化通常需要侵入性技术，啮齿动物的神经系统通常被用作此类实验的模型。本申请中所要求的设备是高度专门化的，以允许同时刺激和记录麻醉啮齿类动物不同脑区的神经活动。用这台设备进行的实验将提供重要的见解，了解特定区域的活动如何影响其他解剖学上相互关联的区域的加工。所要求的设备包括一种仪器，旨在确保麻醉的啮齿类动物的头部处于稳定的位置，并允许细电线精确地指向离散的大脑区域。然后，这些区域的神经活动可以通过低强度的人工刺激模式被唤醒，并使用电子放大器进行测量。在生理记录期间，也可以将少量感兴趣的药理制剂引入离散的大脑区域，以研究观察到的效果背后的特定神经递质和受体。虽然这种设备在神经科学中有广泛的应用，但它最初将用于实验，旨在解决暴露在急性应激下改变对学习和记忆至关重要的大脑回路的兴奋性的机制。在平行实验中，所发现的机制的重要性将在行为自由的大鼠身上进行测试，以确定它们与学习和记忆的相关性。预计这些实验将对理解急性应激等经验因素如何影响包括人类在内的一系列哺乳动物物种的学习和记忆等认知过程具有重要意义。

Understanding the electrophysiological changes that occur in the brain during the rapid integration and storage of information is a critical challenge for behavioral neuroscientists. Given the invasive techniques typically needed to understand these changes, the rodent nervous system is commonly used as a model for such experiments. The equipment requested in the present application is highly specialized to allow for simultaneous stimulation and recording of neural activity from discrete brain areas of anesthetized rodents. Experiments performed with this equipment will provide important insights into how activity in specific areas affects processing in other anatomically interconnected areas. The equipment requested includes an instrument designed to secure an anesthetized rodent's head in a stable position and allow thin wires to be precisely directed at discrete brain areas. Neural activity in these areas can then be evoked by patterns of low intensity artificial stimulation and measured using an electrical amplifier. During physiological recordings, small volumes of pharmacological agents of interest can also be introduced into discrete brain areas to study the specific neurotransmitters and receptors underlying the observed effects. While this equipment has a broad range of applications in neuroscience, it will initially be used in experiments designed to address the mechanisms through which the exposure to acute stress alters the excitability of brain circuits critical for learning and memory. In parallel experiments, the importance of the mechanisms discovered will be tested in freely behaving rats for their relevance to learning and memory. It is expected that these experiments will have significant implications for understanding how experiential factors, such as acute stress, affect cognitive processes such as learning and memory in a range of mammalian species including humans.