Descripción del proyecto
Desvelar la dinámica encefálica relacionada con el olfato
El encéfalo procesa la información a través de complejas redes neuronales, se adapta mediante mecanismos de aprendizaje y memoria e integra los nuevos conocimientos con los marcos ya existentes. La interacción de diversas regiones y procesos encefálicos nos permite percibir, comprender y navegar por el mundo que nos rodea. El equipo del proyecto olfACTION, financiado por el Consejo Europeo de Investigación, se centra en las regiones sensoriales del encéfalo encargadas de procesar la información procedente del olfato, el sentido del olfato. El objetivo es comprender si los cambios inducidos por el aprendizaje en las regiones sensoriales se producen de forma independiente o si están impulsados por señales procedentes de regiones encefálicas superiores asociadas al aprendizaje y la memoria. Los investigadores explorarán la actividad neuronal y la propagación de la información mediante registros electrofisiológicos, manipulaciones optogenéticas y evaluaciones anatómicas.
Objetivo
Sensory information is initially processed in specialized brain areas but only integration with previously acquired knowledge provides meaningful information for flexible action selection. This requires the propagation of information from sensory to association areas, where sensory information is put into context and memories are acquired. The entorhinal-hippocampal network is of particular importance for information integration and memory formation. Recent findings about learning-induced changes in sensory areas raise the question whether they occur independently or reflect altered top-down influence of the abundant feedback projections from associative areas.
While learning- and context-related changes of activity have been described for individual brain areas, it is largely unknown how learning affects propagation of information between areas. The proposed project aims to dissect the mechanisms by which learning and context shape propagation of sensory information from the olfactory system to the entorhinal-hippocampal network in mice. Olfaction provides unique features to address this aim: a short pathway from sensory to association areas, a discrete time frame for information sampling by respiration, and the capability of mice to quickly learn odor-guided tasks.
The main hypothesis of this project is that timing and synchrony of neuronal activity are key parameters in determining the propagation of information between brain areas and that they are affected by learning and context through feedback projections from association areas. This hypothesis will be tested by simultaneous electrophysiological recordings in olfactory bulb, piriform cortex, lateral entorhinal cortex, and hippocampus during learning of odor-reward associations, combined with optogenetic manipulations and anatomical assessment of connectivity between these areas.
This project will reveal the mechanisms by which learning- and context change the propagation of information between brain areas.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
20251 Hamburg
Alemania