Head-fixed mice

…record large-scale neural activity in head-fixed mice while simultaneously tracking their behavior. Our aim was to identify brain regions that predict trans

Working memory is a fundamental cognitive brain function enabling us to hold transiently and process sensory information for a future goal. The prefrontal cortex was long thought to be the specific site for working memory in mammals. However, there is growing evidence that parallel distributed circuits may be responsible for working memory stressing the importance of sensory cortices for the active maintenance of information in working memory. The specific functions of working memory representations in sensory versus associate areas remains unknown. One possibility is that associative areas co

…probes during locomotion in head-fixed mice, combined with high-speed 3D tracking of lim

Whisking, the process through which rodents move their whiskers to explore the physical space around them, is a stereotyped behaviour occurring in strict coordination with nose and head movements. Whisking frequency can be phased-locked to respiration rate and olfactory inputs have been recently shown to modulate whisker-dependent responses of a subset of neurons in the barrel cortex. However, the impact of olfactory signals on whisker-dependent behaviours remains poorly understood. Here, we hypothesized that olfactory inputs influence the animal’s behaviour in a Go/No-Go texture discriminatio

Adaptive behavior in a dynamically changing environment requires learning the value of actions, and updating these values in response to changes in the environment. Several studies have investigated the role of the striatum, and its key neuromodulators, dopamine (DA) and acetylcholine (Ach), in this process. However, these studies usually investigated these neuromodulatory signals in animals which had undergone extensive pre-training, and were thus experts at flexibly adapting to new action values. In addition, most of these studies did not explore the dynamics of these signals simultaneously,

The ability to localize sounds is a major evolutionary adaptation that plays an essential role in the survival of many species. As the auditory system does not directly encode spatial information in its sensory epithelium, the brain has a complex task of reconstructing the auditory spatial world. Whereas early research in anesthetized animals has revealed that neurons in the auditory cortex (AC) increase their firing in response to sounds from the contralateral auditory hemifield, there is increasing evidence in awake animals that some neurons are tuned to sounds coming from the midline of the

Cognitive flexibility is necessary for efficient disengagement from a previous task or reconfiguring and implementing new responses to a novel demand. The orbitofrontal cortex is associated with value encoding and is crucial for flexibility to switch behaviours in front of unexpected outcomes. However, the neuronal mechanisms behind such flexibility to modify the encoded value are unknown. We aim to determine the dynamical mechanisms of orbitofrontal neuronal circuits involved in value-based decisions across different environmental contingencies. For this purpose, we perform large-scale electr

…this behavior we developed a task for head-fixed mice in virtual reality which can be easily combined with large-scale neuronal recordings. Contrary to mos

…brain-wide imaging in behaving mice has proved challenging so far. We employed functional Ultrasound imaging (fUS) to record large-scale neural dynamics in head-fixed mice while simultaneously tracking

…at high temporal resolution in head-fixed mice. We first describe the assembly of the treadmill system. We then detail surgical implantation of the headplate on the mouse skull, followed by habituation of mice to locomotion on the treadmill system. The system is compact, movable, and simple to synchronize with other data streams, making it ideal for monitoring brain activity in diverse behavioral frameworks. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.xpro.2022.101701

Who says you can't reinvent the wheel?! This running wheel for head-fixed mice allows 3D reconstruction of body kinematics using a single camera and DeepLabCut (or similar) software. A lightweight, transparent polycarbonate floor and a mirror mounted on the inside allow two views to be captured simultaneously. All parts are commercially available or laser cut

Over 60 years of research has established that medial temporal lobe structures, including the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex, are necessary for the formation of episodic memories (i.e. memories of specific personal events that occur in spatial and temporal context). While prior work to establish the neural mechanisms underlying episodic memory has largely focused on questions related spatial context, recently we have begun to investigate how these brain structures could be involved in encoding aspects of temporal context. In particular, we have focused on how medial entorhinal cortex, a str