Temporal Coding and Palatability in Gustatory Cortex

味觉皮层的时间编码和适口性

• 批准号: 8248693
• 负责人: Donald B Katz
• 金额: $ 30.22万
• 依托单位: BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-04-01 至 2016-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/8248693
• 关键词: Amygdaloid structure; Area; Automobile Driving; Back; Behavioral; Biological; Biological Neural Networks; Brain; Brain Stem; Brain region; Cephalic; Child; Code; Complex; Computer Architectures; Data; Data Set; Decision Making; Eating; Eating Disorders; Electrodes; Emotions; Feedback; Food; Foundations; Hunger; Implant; Implanted Electrodes; Integration Host Factors; Light; Measures; Nature; Neurons; Oral cavity; Outcome; Parents; Perception; Physiological; Population; Pregnancy; Process; Quinine; Rattus; Research; Research Project Grants; Sampling; Seawater; Shapes; Site; Sodium Chloride; Solutions; Sucrose; Synapses; System; Taste Perception; Temporal Lobe; Testing; Thalamic structure; Thinking; Time; Tongue; Training; Ursidae Family; Work; awake; base; experience; feeding; fighting; interest; markov model; millisecond; network models; novel; public health relevance; relating to nervous system; research study; response; sensory system; sugar; sweet taste perception; tool

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We like to think of taste as working relatively simply: a sweet taste is recognized as sweet by virtue of activating certain parts of the tongue, and that information is used to drive neurons that cause us to eat more of whatever food is in our mouths. The truth, however, is much more interesting. A taste hits the tongue, and complex circuits in the brain go into action, passing food-related information back and forth as the system as a whole decides what to do, in light of experience and current conditions (e. g., hunger). My lab studies this process by recording from multiple parts of the taste system while active rats are sampling various tastes. Our work allows us to observe this decision-making process in action, as taste cortex realizes, sequentially, that a taste is on the tongue, that the taste is (say) sugar, and that it (the rat) currently likes the taste. The research that we're currently proposing will build on this foundation. First, we will do a direct, rigorous test of this characterization of taste processing in cortex, by measuring how cortical neurons handle salt. As the concentration of a salt solution increases, it becomes first more pleasing (just as a little salt on food is good) and then more aversive (like sea water); our Preliminary data shows us that, as expected, cortical neurons first code the concentration (what the taste is) and then its palatability (whether the taste is likeable). Our next experiment will look at where that information in cortex comes from, by recording from cortex and the amygdala (the seat of emotion in the brain) simultaneously. Does cortex figure this stuff out by itself, or does amygdala do the work, or do cortex and amygdala work hand-in-hand? This dual recording experiment will give us important clues. Finally, to test whether the clues that we observe mean what we think that they do, we will do one more experiment, in which we electrically stimulate the amygdala while the rat is in the midst of tasting; to the extent that the amygdala is important for the processing done by cortex, amygdalar stimulation should derail this cortical processing. As a whole, this research project has the potential to completely change the way we think about taste, and to usher in new thinking about perception in general-thinking that makes a great deal more biological sense, given the complexity of brain circuitry. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: We decide whether a food is worth eating on the basis of a host of factors, including experience and our current physiological state, and as such these decisions involve a relatively large part of our brains. Using salt as a probe, we will gather novel data providing important clues to precisely how the many neurons, and multiple brain regions, that make up our taste system work together to perform this feat. The more systemic understanding of taste that will emerge from this research will help us to develop tools to fight a spectrum of eating disorders, to aid parents with child feeding issues, and to cure vexing taste abnormalities such as develop during pregnancy.

描述（由申请人提供）：我们喜欢将味道视为相对简单的工作：通过激活舌头的某些部位，甜味被认为是甜味，并且这些信息用于驱动神经元，使我们可以吃更多的食物。但是，事实更有趣。味道撞到了舌头，大脑中的复杂电路开始行动，随着整个系统的整体决定，鉴于经验和当前状况（例如，饥饿），与食物有关的信息来回传递。我的实验室通过从味觉系统的多个部分录制，而活性大鼠正在采样各种口味，从而研究了这一过程。我们的工作使我们能够在行动中观察到这一决策过程，因为味道皮层依次意识到，舌头上有一种味道，味道是（例如）糖，并且（老鼠）当前喜欢这种味道。我们目前提出的研究将基于这个基础。首先，我们将通过测量皮质神经元如何处理盐的方式，直接，严格地测试皮质中味觉加工的表征。随着盐溶液的浓度增加，它首先变得更加令人愉悦（就像食物上的一点盐是好的一样），然后变得更厌恶（如海水）；我们的初步数据表明，正如预期的那样，皮质神经元首先编码浓度（味道是什么），然后是其可口性（无论味道是可爱的）。我们的下一个实验将通过同时记录Cortex和Amygdala（大脑中的情感所在）录制Cortex中的信息来源。皮质是单独弄清楚这些东西的，还是杏仁核做工作，还是皮质和杏仁核与手工工作？这个双重录音实验将为我们提供重要的线索。最后，为了测试我们观察到的线索是否意味着我们认为它们所做的事情，我们将进行另一项实验，在该实验中，我们在大鼠处于品尝中时向杏仁核刺激杏仁核。在杏仁核对于皮质进行的加工方面很重要的范围内，杏仁核刺激应使这种皮质加工脱离。总体而言，该研究项目有可能完全改变我们对口味的思考方式，并在鉴于脑电路的复杂性，使人们对一般思维的感知进行新的思考，从而更有生物学意义。 公共卫生相关性：我们根据包括经验和当前生理状态在内的许多因素来决定食物是否值得进食，因此这些决定涉及我们大脑的相对较大的部分。我们将使用盐作为探针，我们将收集新颖的数据，为精确的许多神经元和多个大脑区域提供重要的线索，从而构成我们的味觉系统共同发挥这一壮举。从这项研究中出现的对口味的更有系统的理解将有助于我们开发与各种饮食失调相抗衡的工具，以帮助父母患有儿童喂养问题，并治愈诸如怀孕期间发展的烦恼味道异常。