Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience
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Front Behav Neurosci · Jan 2012
Beyond traditional approaches to understanding the functional role of neuromodulators in sensory cortices.
Over the last two decades, a vast literature has described the influence of neuromodulatory systems on the responses of sensory cortex neurons (review in Gu, 2002; Edeline, 2003; Weinberger, 2003; Metherate, 2004, 2011). At the single cell level, facilitation of evoked responses, increases in signal-to-noise ratio, and improved functional properties of sensory cortex neurons have been reported in the visual, auditory, and somatosensory modality. At the map level, massive cortical reorganizations have been described when repeated activation of a neuromodulatory system are associated with a particular sensory stimulus. ⋯ More importantly, a gap still exists between the descriptions of neuromodulatory effects and the concepts that are currently applied to decipher the neural code operating in sensory cortices. Key examples that bring this gap into focus are the concept of cell assemblies and the role played by the spike timing precision (i.e., by the temporal organization of spike trains at the millisecond time-scale) which are now recognized as essential in sensory physiology but are rarely considered in experiments describing the role of neuromodulators in sensory cortices. Thus, I will suggest that several lines of research, particularly in the field of computational neurosciences, should help us to go beyond traditional approaches and, ultimately, to understand how neuromodulators impact on the cortical mechanisms underlying our perceptual abilities.
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Front Behav Neurosci · Jan 2011
Unraveling the differential functions and regulation of striatal neuron sub-populations in motor control, reward, and motivational processes.
The striatum, the major input structure of the basal ganglia, is critically involved in motor control and learning of habits and skills, and is also involved in motivational and reward processes. The dorsal striatum, caudate-putamen, is primarily implicated in motor functions whereas the ventral striatum, the nucleus accumbens, is essential for motivation and drug reinforcement. Severe basal ganglia dysfunction occurs in movement disorders as Parkinson's and Huntington's disease, and in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and drug addiction. ⋯ Although the involvement of striatal sub-areas in motor control and motivation has been thoroughly characterized, major issues remained concerning the specific and respective functions of the two MSNs sub-populations, D(2)R-striatopallidal (dopamine D(2) receptor-positive) and D(1)R-striatonigral (dopamine D(1) receptor-positive) neurons, as well as their specific regulation. Here, we review recent advances that gave new insight in the understanding of the differential roles of striatopallidal and striatonigral neurons in the basal ganglia circuit. We discuss innovative techniques developed in the last decade which allowed a much precise evaluation of molecular pathways implicated in motivational processes and functional roles of striatopallidal and striatonigral neurons in motor control and in the establishment of reward-associated behavior.
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Front Behav Neurosci · Jan 2010
Sleep-waking discharge of ventral tuberomammillary neurons in wild-type and histidine decarboxylase knock-out mice.
Using extracellular single-unit recordings, we have determined the characteristics of neurons in the ventral tuberomammillary nucleus (VTM) of wild-type (WT) and histidine decarboxylase knock-out (HDC-KO) mice during the sleep-waking cycle. The VTM neurons of HDC-KO mice showed no histamine immunoreactivity, but were immunoreactive for the histaminergic (HA) neuron markers adenosine deaminase and glutamic acid decarboxylase 67. In the VTM of WT mice, we found waking (W)-specific, non-W-specific W-active, sleep-active, W and paradoxical sleep (PS)-active, and state-indifferent neuron groups. ⋯ They either responded to an arousing stimulus with a long delay or did not respond. They therefore presented exactly the same characteristics as those seen in the VTM of WT mice. Thus VTM neurons deprived of their natural transmitter histamine still exhibit the firing properties of W-specific HA neurons.
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Detection of persistent pain of a mild-to-moderate degree in laboratory mice is difficult because mice do not show unambiguous symptoms of pain or suffering using standard methods of short-term observational or clinical monitoring. This study investigated the potential use of burrowing performance - a spontaneous and highly motivated behavior - as a measure of post-operative pain in laboratory mice. The influence of minor surgery on burrowing was investigated in adult C57BL/6J mice of both genders in a modified rodent burrowing test (displacement of food pellets from a pellet-filled tube) within the animal's home cage. ⋯ Analgesia during surgery was associated with a significantly earlier onset of burrowing compared to surgery without pain treatment. A distinct gradation in burrowing performance was found ranging from the undisturbed pre-operative status to the intermediate level following anesthesia/analgesia and surgery with analgesia, to the pronounced prolongation of latency to burrow after surgery without pain relief. In conclusion, post-surgical impairment of general condition, probably mainly attributable to pain, can be conveniently assessed in laboratory mice on the basis of the burrowing test.
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Front Behav Neurosci · Jan 2009
The Use of Virtual Reality in the Study of People's Responses to Violent Incidents.
This paper reviews experimental methods for the study of the responses of people to violence in digital media, and in particular considers the issues of internal validity and ecological validity or generalisability of results to events in the real world. Experimental methods typically involve a significant level of abstraction from reality, with participants required to carry out tasks that are far removed from violence in real life, and hence their ecological validity is questionable. On the other hand studies based on field data, while having ecological validity, cannot control multiple confounding variables that may have an impact on observed results, so that their internal validity is questionable. ⋯ Since people tend to respond realistically to situations and events that occur in virtual reality, and since virtual reality simulations can be completely controlled for experimental purposes, studies of responses to violence within virtual reality are likely to have both ecological and internal validity. This depends on a property that we call 'plausibility' - including the fidelity of the depicted situation with prior knowledge and expectations. We illustrate this with data from a previously published experiment, a virtual reprise of Stanley Milgram's 1960s obedience experiment, and also with pilot data from a new study being developed that looks at bystander responses to violent incidents.