CRCNS: US-German Res Prop: The Role of Spontaneous Activity in Cortical Development

CRCNS：美国-德国 Res Prop：自发活动在皮质发育中的作用

• 批准号: 9335859
• 负责人: DAVID FITZPATRICK
• 金额: $ 22.88万
• 依托单位: MAX PLANCK FLORIDA CORPORATION
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9335859
• 关键词: Address; Animals; Back; Biological Models; Calcium; Chronic; Collaborations; Communities; Computer Simulation; Data; Data Analyses; Development; Educational process of instructing; Event; Exhibits; Eye; Ferrets; Florida; General Population; German population; Goals; High School Student; Image; Individual; Institutes; Journals; Knowledge; Learning; Light; Maps; Measures; Methodology; Methods; Modeling; Monitor; Nature; Neurodevelopmental Disorder; Neurons; Pattern; Population; Publications; Quality of life; Research; Research Activity; Research Personnel; Resolution; Role; Sensory; Shapes; Side; Stimulus; Structure; Techniques; Testing; Theoretical model; Time; Ursidae Family; Visual; Visual Cortex; activity marker; base; course development; data modeling; improved; in vivo imaging; insight; mathematical model; mature animal; neural patterning; novel; orientation columns; orientation selectivity; outreach; programs; relating to nervous system; response; scaffold; sensor; spatiotemporal; symposium; synergism; theories; tool; undergraduate student; visual stimulus; web site

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to understand the role of spontaneous activity in early cortical development. The cortex is spontaneously active from the first moments when circuits form. However, so far we know only very little about the patterns of spontaneous activity in the early cortex and very few models have addressed their role in shaping its circuitry. An experimental neuroscientist from the Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI) is teaming up with a computational neuroscientist from the Frankfurt Institute of Advance Studies (FIAS) to shed new light on this important issue. Our central hypothesis is that early spontaneous patterns of activity exhibit an orderly columnar structure that forms the basis for building sensory evoked representations. Using the orientation preference map in ferret visual cortex as a model system, the team will employ novel techniques for expressing highly sensitive and persistent neural activity markers in visual cortex to perform chronic imaging of spontaneous and visually-evoked activity of large populations of neurons, starting a week prior to orientation map formation, up to its full maturation several weeks later. Using quantitative analysis of patterns of spontaneous activity, the team will characterize the structure of spontaneous activity in the early visual cortex and describe its relation to the mature orientation preference map. Constrained by the empirical results, a mathematical model will be built, aiming at providing a concise and accurate description of our spontaneous activity scaffolding hypothesis and to derive testable implications of this hypothesis. Through this project the researchers are expected to gain a quantitative understanding of how spontaneous and visually-driven activity interact to shape the early development of cortical circuitry. The research proposed here is expected to result in an improved understanding of early cortical development. Spontaneous activity potentially has a huge impact on developing cortical circuits and the proposed research aims at elucidating its role. It could reveal a previously unappreciated potential supporting role of spontaneous activity in forming sensory representations during early cortical development. Methodologically, the project will establish new experimental techniques that allow monitoring with unprecedented sensitivity the activity of large populations of neurons over extended periods of time, beginning at very early stages in development. It will provide novel methods for quantifying the spatiotemporal patterns of spontaneous and visual evoked population activity. Scientifically, the study will highlight the unanticipated richness and modular organization of early spontaneous activity in the cortex. In addition, the project will establish a new theory of visual cortical development that explicitly takes the rich nature of spontaneous activity into account. This theory will be strongly backed up by the empirical data. Beyond the new insights that will be gained about cortical development, the proposed research will have a broader impact in demonstrating the synergy that derives from combining state of the art experimental approaches, with novel techniques for data analysis and theoretical modeling. This project creates an interdisciplinary US-German collaboration between the FIAS and the MPFI. The results of this project will be broadly disseminated to the research community in journal publications, at conferences, and via a project website, and to the general public through presentations, outreach events and unique programs on both sides. Teaching and learning is promoted through programs for graduate, undergraduate, and high school students as well as engagement of post-baccalaureate participation in research activities. Finally, this project will contribute to a deeper understanding of the activity-dependent mechanisms that are responsible for the normal development of cortical circuits - fundamental knowledge that serves as the basis for novel treatments for a host of neurodevelopmental disorders that impact the quality of life for billions of people worldwide.

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的目标是了解自发活动在早期皮层发育中的作用，皮层从电路形成的第一刻起就处于自发活动状态。马克斯·普朗克佛罗里达研究所 (MPFI) 的一位实验神经科学家正在与法兰克福高级研究所的一位计算神经科学家合作。研究（FIAS）为这一重要问题提供了新的线索，我们的中心假设是，早期的自发活动模式表现出有序的柱状结构，该结构构成了使用雪貂视觉皮层中的方向偏好图作为模型构建感官诱发表征的基础。系统中，该团队将采用新技术来表达视觉皮层中高度敏感和持久的神经活动标记，以对大量神经元的自发和视觉诱发活动进行长期成像，从方向图形成前一周开始，直到其完全成像。几周后成熟。通过分析自发活动的模式，团队将描述早期视觉皮层自发活动的结构，并描述其与成熟的方向偏好图的关系，在经验结果的约束下，建立一个数学模型，旨在提供一个简洁的模型。准确描述我们的自发活动支架假说，并得出该假说的可测试含义，研究人员有望定量了解自发活动和视觉驱动的活动如何相互作用，从而塑造皮层回路的早期发展。 这里提出的研究预计将有助于更好地理解早期皮质发育可能对皮质回路的发育产生巨大影响，并且拟议的研究旨在阐明其作用，它可能揭示了自发活动先前未被认识到的潜在支持作用。从方法上讲，该项目将建立新的实验技术，能够在很长一段时间内以前所未有的灵敏度监测大量神经元的活动，从发育的早期阶段开始。为了科学地量化自发和视觉诱发的群体活动的时空模式，该研究将强调早期皮层自发活动的意外丰富性和模块化组织。此外，该项目将建立一种明确采用视觉皮层发育的新理论。考虑到自发活动的丰富性质，该理论将得到实证数据的有力支持，除了获得有关皮质发育的新见解之外，拟议的研究还将在证明组合状态所产生的协同作用方面产生更广泛的影响。艺术实验方法，采用数据分析和理论建模的新技术。 该项目在 FIAS 和 MPFI 之间建立了跨学科的美德合作。该项目的结果将通过期刊出版物、会议和项目网站向研究界广泛传播，并通过演示向公众传播。双方的外展活动和独特的项目通过针对研究生、本科生和高中生的项目以及学士学位后参与研究活动来促进教学和学习。活动依赖机制它负责皮质回路的正常发育，这是基础知识，是许多影响全球数十亿人生活质量的神经发育障碍的新疗法的基础。