MEMORIES · Mapping dEndritic inforMation prOcessing in behaving mice using simultaneous spatio-tempoRal voltage and calcium Imaging and wholE-cell electrophySiology
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-01-01 → 2022-05-06
- EU contribution
- €203,149
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Mapping dEndritic inforMation prOcessing in behaving mice using simultaneous spatio-tempoRal voltage and calcium Imaging and wholE-cell electrophySiology
This fellowship aimed to use a novel simultaneous dendritic voltage and calcium imaging and whole-cell recording technique to investigate dendritic processing in behaving mice. We aimed to investigate how spatio-temporal processing of dendritic signals convey sensory information and relate to learning, specifically the role of back-propagating action potentials for memory formation. To do this a sensory stimulus, such as a whisker deflection, would be used to evoke somatic and dendritic signals in individual neurons. Spatio-temporal dendritic voltage and calcium maps and somatic signals would be simultaneously recorded. Dendritic signalling maps recorded during sensory stimulation would be compared to signal maps of spontaneous activity, and also monitored during behavioural training (such as learning the water reward task). Mouse behaviour would also be recorded (using high speed cameras and water spout licking sensor, for example). Simultaneous whole-cell electrophysiology was planned to detect somatic action potentials, and by comparison with spatio-temporal dendritic voltage and calcium maps, back-propagating signals detected and their characteristics during mouse behaviour would be examined.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Dendritic information processing is fundamental to how we perceive and interact with the world around us. Spatio-temporal maps of dendritic voltage reveal how information is processed in the brain, but remain unexplored in awake animals, since no recording technique was previously available to study them.I recently developed a novel technique for spatio-temporal mapping of dendritic processing in unparalleled detail (Roome and Kuhn, 2018). My pioneering experiments provided the first observation of spatio-temporal dendritic voltage signalling in vivo. For the first time, I combined simultaneous dendritic voltage and calcium imaging with somatic recording in cerebellar Purkinje neurons of awake mice to reveal complex dendritic processes, including discrete dendritic spikelets, back-propagating action potentials and localized subthreshold signalling. Using my novel technique to record from neocortical Pyramidal neurons, I will now investigate dendritic processing in behaving mice, to explore how memories are formed during learning. I will focus on how back-propagating action potentials contribute to dendritic processing, through modulation of synaptic plasticity. The Laboratory of Sensory Processing (Prof. Carl Petersen) at EPFL, Switzerland, is specialized for investigating synaptic mechanisms of sensory processing and highly experienced in whole-cell recording and optical imaging during animal behaviour and training; all of which are critical for the success of this project. This fellowship will be instrumental in propelling a technique, that I have been committed to developing, towards state-of-the-art research in neuroscience. It will provide an ideal avenue for introducing a new technique to Europe, through a world leading laboratory, and prove invaluable for sharing skills I acquired abroad, while establishing networks and collaborations as I re-integrate into the European neuroscience community, in pursuit of a professional research carrier based in Europe.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE · LausanneCoordinatorSwitzerland
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union