Project Details
Projekt
2-Photon Laser Scanning Microscope for the Imaging of fluoreszence signals
Subject Area
Neurosciences
Term
Funded in 2019
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 418809886
Despite intensive study in the past on the problem of how information is processed in the brain to enable individual organisms to adapt to their continuously changing environment, little progress has been made on how new memory traces emerge in neuronal networks during learning and how memories are forwarded to target brain areas. The dentate gyrus (DG) is a key input region of the hippocampus receiving a rich multimodal input from the medial entorhinal cortex (MEC) and forwarding the processed information to the hippocampal area CA3. Information is processed along the classical trisynaptic path and after consolidation forwarded from CA1 to higher brain regions such as the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). However, how memory traces emerge during the learning process and how the processed information is represented in functionally interconnected brain areas is largely unknown. This lack of information is primarily based on the problem of obtaining simultaneous activity of large neuronal populations of functionally interconnected brain regions during the learning process on subsequent days. Here we aim to overcome this problem by simultaneous imaging of spatial and temporal population activity of two to three functionally related brain regions in mice during spatial learning using the here applied 2-Photon Mesoscope. Mice will be head-fixed and exposed to a virtual-reality over subsequent days in which they learn to navigate on a linear track through the virtual reality and to obtain food rewards at defined locations. First, we aim to examine how spatial information is represented in neuronal population activity and how it is forwarded and represented in the target brain region. We will focus on the input-output relationship between the MEC and DG, CA1 to mPFC as well as the ipsi- and contralateral DG. Second, we will apply optogenetic and pharmacogenetic interference tools to causally probe the influence of inputs to activity patterns in target areas and thus their output. Finally, we will examine how slow brain rhythms may contribute to information transfer among cortical brain regions. We strongly believe that this innovative multi-disciplinary approach will provide new insights on the mechanisms of memory formation and transfer among cortical networks.
DFG Programme
Major Research Instrumentation
Major Instrumentation
2-Photon Laser Scanning Mikroskop zur bildgebenden Darstellung von Fluoreszenzsignalen
Instrumentation Group
5090 Spezialmikroskope
Applicant Institution
Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
