Topic: texture discrimination

Our understanding of how developmental cell death contributes to the formation of brain circuits remains limited. Cajal-Retzius cells (CRs) constitute a major transient neuronal population in the mammalian neocortex, which largely disappears at the time of postnatal somatosensory maturation. In this study, we used mouse genetics, anatomical, functional and behavioral approaches to explore the impact of the early postnatal death of CRs in the maturation of the cortical circuit. We find that CRs apoptosis plays a crucial role in facilitating the proper development of inhibitory connectivity from

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