Description du projet
Révéler l’activité du cerveau à l’œuvre pendant l’interaction sociale
Les espèces sociales telles que les humains et les autres primates perçoivent et interprètent divers signaux environnementaux et sociaux qui leur permettent de prendre les décisions nécessaires. Cependant, on sait peu de choses sur les mécanismes sous-jacents à ces processus et sur la manière dont le cerveau active ces représentations internes. Le projet AMYGDALA-ELECTROPHYS, financé par l’UE, effectuera des enregistrements neuronaux chez des rats afin d’étudier l’activité du complexe amygdalien basolatéral (BLA) pendant l’interaction sociale. En décodant cette activité, les chercheurs détermineront et comprendront les facteurs (tels que le sexe et l’âge) à l’origine des calculs neuronaux dans le BLA et donc du comportement social.
Objectif
The accurate perception and interpretation of social stimuli is crucial for survival in social species including rodents, primates and humans. Before deciding whether to mate, fight or avoid, an animal must process multisensory cues to activate an internal representation of the social environment that answers key questions (Sex? Age? Friend? Foe? Previously encountered?). Little is known about how the brain develops and activates this representation. We will focus on the role of neuronal firing in the basolateral amygdala complex (BLA) in processing and integrating social cues.
In the first stage of this research, we will use neuropixel silicon probes to conduct large-scale recordings of the BLA in rats during social interaction with conspecifics (juvenile rats, male rats and female rats). We can record from large populations of neurons across weeks in freely-moving rats during social interaction. Second, by analysing the activity of single neurons in the BLA, we can characterize the specificity and responsivity of single neurons to social interaction and understand the mitigating factors (gender of conspecific, sexual receptivity, age, previous history). Third, we can decode the population activity of the BLA during social activity to understand how BLA connectivity changes during social interaction and with experience. Finally, we will use optical tagging of anatomically-defined ensembles of BLA neurons to understand how BLA projections code for specific properties of social activity. Success in this project will provide an understanding of how neural computation occurs within the BLA.
Champ scientifique
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EFCoordinateur
WC1E 6BT London
Royaume-Uni