Neural circuits for spatial navigation

用于空间导航的神经回路

基本信息

批准号：
10321643
负责人：
GABY MAIMON
金额：
$ 42.38万
依托单位：
ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2018
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2018-01-01 至 2023-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10321643
关键词：
Alzheimer&apos s Disease Animal Model Animals Ants Automobile Driving Bees Behavior Behavioral Biological Biological Models Brain Cells Cognition Complex Computer Models Darkness Dementia Deterioration Drosophila genus Drosophila melanogaster Face Fruit Genetic Genetic Models Goals Head Home Impairment Individual Insecta Left Link Location Locomotion Mammals Memory Mental disorders Methods Modeling Motor Movement Nature Navigation System Neurologic Neurons Pattern Physiological Physiology Positioning Attribute Primates Rodent Rodent Model Role Sensory Signal Transduction Societies Speed Subway Supermarket Synapses System Testing The Sun Therapeutic Thinking Time Update Vision Visit Walking Work base cell type cognitive function cognitive neuroscience cognitive process fly insight meter neural circuit novel therapeutic intervention two-dimensional way finding

项目摘要

Project Summary / Abstract Our brain provides us with a sense of where we are in space. The importance of this sense is clear when we become spatially disoriented, like when one is confused about one’s orientation after exiting a subway station. Central to the understanding of how brains give rise to spatial cognition has been the discovery of place cells in the 1970’s (i.e., neurons that are active when animals are in one specific location in space), head-direction cells in the 1980’s (i.e., neurons that are active when animals face one specific compass direction), and grid cells in the early 2000’s (i.e., neurons that are active when animals are in a grid of locations in space). A remarkable feature of these cells is that their patterns of firing persist even when animals navigate in complete darkness, wherein the animals must use an internal assessment of their own movements to update their sense of position or orientation. A fundamental next step in our understanding of spatial cognition would be to describe the circuit-level interactions that give rise to such physiological activity patterns and to understand how such cells ultimately influence navigational behavior. Our recent work has uncovered the first neural circuit to explain how heading-related cells update their activity levels when animals turn in the dark. This biological circuit in Drosophila is a realization of a circuit proposed to exist in the mammalian brain twenty years ago, based on computational modeling, but never proven to exist in any animal. Here we focus on three related questions that aim to provide a deeper understanding of how brains construct navigational signals and how these signals guide behavior. Our first aim is to identify a circuit path by which sensory information arrives to the central brain to update the head-direction or heading system when an animal turns in the dark. Our second aim is to determine the role of heading signals in guiding navigational behavior by perturbing the activity of heading-related cells in animals performing a heading task. Our third aim is to characterize new cell classes and circuitry to ultimately inform how brains might solve two-dimensional navigation tasks. The overarching goal of this work is to provide a detailed, circuit-level understanding of how brains compute spatial navigation- related variables. Such discoveries will inform our thinking on how our brains allow us to perform day-to-day navigation tasks, like driving home from work or finding our car in a parking lot, and how to approach psychiatric and neurological conditions in which these abilities are impaired, such as Alzheimer’s disease.

项目概要/摘要当我们了解自己在太空中的位置时，我们的大脑就很清楚这种感觉的重要性。变得空间迷失方向，就像一个人走出地铁站后对自己的方向感到困惑一样。了解大脑如何产生空间认知的核心是发现了位置细胞 20 世纪 70 年代（即当动物处于空间某一特定位置时神经元活跃），头部方向 20 世纪 80 年代的细胞（即当动物面对一个特定罗盘方向时活跃的神经元）和网格 2000 年代初的细胞（即当动物处于空间 A 的网格位置时活跃的神经元）。这些细胞的显着特征是，即使动物完全导航，它们的放电模式仍然存在。黑暗中，动物必须使用对自身动作的内部评估来更新它们的感觉我们理解空间认知的一个基本步骤是描述引起这种生理活动模式的电路级相互作用并理解我们最近的工作揭示了第一个神经回路。解释当动物在黑暗中转弯时，与方向相关的细胞如何更新其活动水平。果蝇中的电路是二十年前被提议存在于哺乳动物大脑中的电路的实现，基于计算模型，但从未被证明存在于任何动物中，这里我们关注三个相关的。旨在更深入地了解大脑如何构建导航信号以及如何这些信号指导行为。我们的首要目标是确定感官信息到达的电路路径。当动物在黑暗中转弯时，中央大脑会更新头部方向或航向系统。目的是通过扰乱航向信号的活动来确定航向信号在指导导航行为中的作用。我们的第三个目标是表征新的细胞类别。以及最终告知大脑如何解决二维导航任务的电路。这项工作的目标是提供对大脑如何计算空间导航的详细、电路级的理解这些发现将告诉我们大脑如何让我们进行日常工作。导航任务，例如下班开车回家或在停车场找到我们的车，以及如何接近这些能力受损的精神和神经疾病，例如阿尔茨海默病。