Topic: 2-photon Ca2+ imaging

How does the brain derive meaning from social vocalizations and drive behavior in response? Vocalizations are temporally complex, requiring integration across multiple time-scales for appropriate contextualization. We hypothesize that corticofugal projections modulate temporal integration in feed-forward auditory circuits to facilitate this. We tested this using an ethological mouse behavior that depends on left auditory cortex. Mothers find and retrieve isolated pups into the nest when pups emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs). Virgin females don’t usually retrieve pups, but learn after sever

Animals and humans acquire knowledge through experience allowing them to flexibly generalize to novel situations. Several findings suggest that the Hippocampus (HC) is involved in the development of this conceptual learning not only for navigational but for other non-spatial variables if relevant to a task. However, how concepts arise with learning and how the hippocampus is involved in building these from the statistical structure of episodic memories still remains unknown. To study this, we trained mice on a binary categorization task consisting of a category split between low and high tone

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a chronic incurable neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive memory loss and cognitive dysfunctions. Brain function is governed by dynamic interactions between neurons and glial cells. Over the last decades it has been shown that calcium dynamics in astrocytes represent a fundamental signal that through gliotransmitter release regulates synaptic plasticity and behaviour. Here, by using cutting-edge techniques including 2-photon Ca2+ imaging, electrophysiology and behavioural memory tests, we present a longitudinal study in the PS2APP mouse model of AD