Research finds neural signs of incorrect correction of neural circuits in experimental mice
神经回路错误,伽马振荡
z-bo
2020-08-17
421
In recent years, researchers have been pursuing a short-lived brain signal called gamma vibration that synchronizes the millisecond-level transmission of bioelectrical activity in the waveform through the brain tissue like ripples in a pond. In 1993, German scientist Wolf Singer proposed that gamma waves can be bound to memory associations. For example, in a process called working memory, animals store and recall short-term memory associations as they explore the environment.
At the end of eight years of research, scientists at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics captured an elusive brain signal-based memory transmission. In this case, accurately find the first neural circuit, and at this moment when one becomes conscious Be aware of a self-made mistake and take corrective actions. This discovery validated a 20-year-old hypothesis about how brain regions communicate.
The results of this study were published in the journal Cell, which verified a 20-year hypothesis that brain regions communicate. In recent years, researchers have been pursuing a short-lived brain signal called gamma vibration that synchronizes the millisecond-level transmission of bioelectrical activity in the waveform through the brain tissue like ripples in a pond. In 1993, German scientist Wolf Singer proposed that gamma waves can be bound to memory associations. For example, in a process called working memory, animals store and recall short-term memory associations as they explore the environment.
In 2006, under the guidance of Nobel Prize winner Susumu Tonegawa, the MIT team began to study and understand working memory in mice. Their animals pass through a T-shaped maze and are rewarded with food to make them turn left or right at the intersection. They found that working memory requires communication between two brain regions, the hippocampus and the entorhinal cortex, but how the mice know the correct direction and the neural signals transmitted by this event memory are still unclear.
The lead author of the study, Jun Yamamoto, noticed that the mice made mistakes when something happened. They grabbed the wrong direction and stopped, turning their heads in the right direction. Out of curiosity, he recorded the neural activity in the circuit and observed a burst of gamma waves when the mouse paused. He also saw gamma waves when the mice chose the correct direction, but did not find gamma waves when the mice failed to choose the correct direction or were unable to correct their mistakes.
A critical test to block gamma oscillations and prevent mice from making correct decisions. To do this, the researchers created transgenic mice with archaerhodopsin (ArchT) light-sensitive protein in the hippocampus. Using an optical fiber implanted in the brain, the light flickers in the hippocampal entorhinal circuit, cutting off gamma activity. The mice can no longer accurately choose the correct direction in the experiment.
The research study provided strong evidence for the role of gamma oscillations in cognition and improved their working memory requirements for retrieval and the prospect of evaluating other behavioral interventions. This may open up a type of behavioral research called metacognition.
