How Brains Build Navigational Variables and Use them to Guide Behavior

大脑如何构建导航变量并利用它们来指导行为

基本信息

批准号：
10665382
负责人：
GABY MAIMON
金额：
$ 59.33万
依托单位：
ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
财政年份：
2023
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2023-05-01 至 2031-04-30
项目状态：
未结题

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 location in space), head-direction cells in the 1980’s (i.e., neurons that are active when animals face one 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 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 signals ultimately influence navigational behavior. We wish to leverage the advanced genetic, behavioral, anatomical and physiological tools in Drosophila, to achieve three broad goals. First, we wish to rigorously characterize neural circuits that explain how navigational signals are built. Second, we wish to improve the tasks that flies perform while we record from their brain, which will allow us to isolate cells and circuits required for the formation of spatial working memories. Third, we aim to reveal molecular, cellular and circuit mechanisms by which such memories are formed and guide behavior. This work should allow us to more rigorously link molecular factors, through their effects on cells and circuits, to their function in spatial-cognition. Our discoveries should ultimately help to inform how humans perform navigational tasks like driving home from work or finding a car in a parking lot, alongside how to approach neurological conditions in which such abilities are impaired, like in 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，当动物处于空间中的一个位置时，神经元处于活动状态），头部方向细胞 1980 年代（即，当动物面向一个罗盘方向时，神经元会活跃），以及早期的网格细胞 2000 年代（即，当动物处于空间网格中时，神经元会活跃）。在我们对空间认知的理解中，将描述引起这种现象的电路级相互作用生理活动模式并了解这些信号最终如何影响导航行为。我们希望利用果蝇先进的遗传、行为、解剖和生理工具，首先，我们希望严格描述神经回路，以解释如何实现。其次，我们希望改进苍蝇在我们记录时执行的任务。他们的大脑，这将使我们能够分离形成空间工作所需的细胞和电路第三，我们的目标是揭示这种记忆的分子、细胞和电路机制。这项工作应该使我们能够通过分子因素更严格地联系起来。对细胞和电路的影响，以及它们在空间认知中的功能，我们的发现最终应该有助于告知人类如何执行导航任务，例如下班开车回家或在停车场找到汽车，以及如何处理此类能力受损的神经系统疾病，例如阿尔茨海默氏症疾病。