Development of the multisensory computations underlying flavor processing

风味加工基础的多感官计算的发展

• 批准号: 10584065
• 负责人: Joost Maier
• 金额: $ 41.92万
• 依托单位: WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2023-01-15 至 2027-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10584065
• 关键词: Address; Adult; Animal Model; Animals; Biological Models; Birth; Brain; Common Cold; Complex; Coupled; Data; Development; Diet; Dissociation; Eating; Electrophysiology (science); Exposure to; Face; Food; Foundations; Goals; Health; Human; Imaging Techniques; Individual; Intervention; Intuition; Life; Life Experience; Link; Longevity; Mission; Modality; Modeling; Nature; Neurons; Olfactory Cortex; Outcome; Pattern; Perception; Persons; Physiology; Prevention; Process; Rattus; Recording of previous events; Research; Research Personnel; Resolution; Rodent; Sensory; Sensory Process; Series; Shapes; Smell Perception; Stimulus; System; Taste Perception; Techniques; Work; awake; computational basis; experience; experimental study; extracellular; human imaging; human subject; insight; multisensory; neural; neural circuit; neuromechanism; non-invasive imaging; novel; operation; postnatal; postnatal development; response; sensory input; sensory system; temporal measurement

SUMMARY Food is perceived and enjoyed through the multisensory quality of “flavor”, which involves the senses of taste and smell, but is not easily dissociated into its components. Flavor perception has a major influence on food choice and is thus directly linked to health. However, the underlying neural mechanisms remain mysterious. Previous work in humans has suggested that the brain actively combines taste and smell inputs to create our sense of flavor, and that this process depends heavily on eating experience. However, human imaging techniques lack spatial and temporal resolution to provide a mechanistic understanding of how neural circuits produce multisensory flavor representations. Moreover, people’s highly subjective eating history precludes a systematic understanding of how experience drives the development of flavor processing. To overcome these issues, the present proposal takes a unique approach to the study of flavor. Using the awake, tasting rat as an animal model allows us to directly access to the neural computations underlying flavor processing at the cellular level, and complete control over the individual’s flavor experience. The proposed hypotheses build directly on our own recent findings on cross-modal flavor processing in rat olfactory cortex, as well as decades of work on the development of multisensory computations in cortical and subcortical regions of other multisensory systems. The project comprises a coherent series of experiments that systematically seeks to provide mechanistic understanding of the neural circuits that integrate flavor-related sensory information. Specifically, we will answer the following questions: 1) What are the guiding principles by which olfactory cortical circuits integrate taste and smell inputs? To address this, we will use electrophysiological techniques to record responses from olfactory cortical neurons to taste-smell mixtures as well as their unisensory components in awake adult rats; 2) How are the multisensory operations performed by olfactory cortical circuits shaped by experience with specific flavors? To address this, we will experimentally manipulate rats’ experience with specific taste-smell mixtures, and record responses from ensembles of olfactory cortical neurons to congruent, incongruent and unexposed taste-smell mixtures as well as their unisensory components; and 3) How does the ability to integrate cross-modal inputs develop across the lifespan? To address this, we will track uni- and cross-modal responsiveness of olfactory cortex in awake rats across different stages of early postnatal development; To successfully achieve these objectives, our unique team of investigators brings together expertise in flavor processing and awake rodent olfactory cortex physiology (PI Maier), the computational basis of multisensory interactions (Co-I Rowland), and the development of multisensory systems (Co-I Stein).

概括 食物是通过“风味”的多感官品质来感知和享受的，其中涉及味觉 和气味，但不易分解成其成分，风味感知对食物有重大影响。 然而，潜在的神经机制仍然是个谜。 之前对人类的研究表明，大脑主动结合味觉和嗅觉输入来创造我们的味觉和嗅觉。 味觉，而这个过程在很大程度上取决于饮食经验，然而，人类的成像。 技术缺乏空间和时间分辨率，无法提供对神经回路如何运作的机械理解 此外，人们高度主观的饮食历史排除了一种多感官风味表征。 系统地了解经验如何推动风味加工的发展，以克服这些问题。 为了解决这些问题，本提案采用了一种独特的方法来研究味道，使用清醒的、品尝味道的老鼠作为实验对象。 动物模型使我们能够直接访问细胞中风味处理的神经计算 水平，并完全控制个人的风味体验。所提出的假设直接建立在这种基础上。 我们最近关于大鼠嗅觉皮层跨模式风味处理的发现，以及数十年的工作 其他多感官系统的皮质和皮质下区域的多感官计算的发展。 该项目包括一系列连贯的实验，旨在提供机制 具体来说，我们将回答整合风味相关感官信息的神经回路。 以下问题： 1）嗅觉皮层回路整合味觉和嗅觉的指导原则是什么？ 为了解决这个问题，我们将使用电生理技术来记录嗅觉的反应 清醒成年大鼠的皮层神经元对味觉-气味混合物及其单感觉成分的影响 2）如何； 嗅觉皮层回路执行的多感官操作是由特定口味的经验形成的？ 为了解决这个问题，我们将通过实验操纵老鼠对特定味觉-气味混合物的体验，并记录 嗅皮质神经元群对一致、不一致和未暴露的味觉气味的反应 混合物及其单感觉成分；3) 整合跨模式输入的能力如何 为了解决这个问题，我们将跟踪嗅觉的单一和跨模式反应能力 出生后早期发育不同阶段的清醒大鼠的皮质 成功实现这些目标 为了实现这一目标，我们独特的研究团队汇集了风味加工和清醒啮齿动物方面的专业知识 嗅觉皮层生理学 (PI Maier)、多感觉相互作用的计算基础 (Co-I Rowland) 以及 多感官系统的发展（Co-I Stein）。