Vibrissal roughness discrimination is barrelcortex-dependent

Guic-Robles, Eliana; Jenkins, William M.; Bravo, Hermes

doi:10.1016/s0166-4328(05)80150-0

Cited by 110 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Compared to the textures used in those studies, the rough surface used here had a much finer scale. Lesions of the somatosensory ''barrel'' cortex led to deficits in vibrissal-based texture discrimination [12], and we expected that differences in the firing of cortical neurons would be small but detectable, with at least some neurons firing at higher average rates when the rat palpated the rough compared to the smooth surface. We found, however, that neither overall firing rates nor temporal discharge patterns are robust indicators of the rough and smooth surfaces.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Texture discrimination and unit recordings in the rat whisker/barrel system

Prigg

Goldreich

Carvell

et al. 2002

Physiology & Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have developed a semi-automated technique for acquiring neurophysiological data during whisker-based tactile discriminative behavior. Water-deprived, blindfolded rats are tethered by means of a harness vest that permits them to contact a rough (250 mm grooves) or smooth discriminandum with only their vibrissae. Discriminanda are mounted on a motor-driven carousel, and the rat indicates its choice (rough, smooth) by licking either a right or left water port located near the carousel. A narrow light beam detects general proximity of the animal's nose to the discriminandum, although actual whisker contact is monitored by a SuperVHS camera and measured offline using fieldby-field videographic analysis. Rats can be trained within 3 -6 weeks at which time they perform 100 -150 trials/day at a level of 80% correct. Unit recording from the somatosensory cortex reveals that neurons increase their firing upon whisker contact of a discriminandum and that firing remains elevated during several hundred milliseconds of ongoing contact, even with the smooth surface. Nevertheless, despite the animal's ability to distinguish the rough and smooth surfaces, overall neuronal firing rates were indistinguishable for the two surfaces. In some cases, temporal firing patterns differed, although not in a consistent way across recording sites. D

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Texture discrimination and unit recordings in the rat whisker/barrel system

Prigg

Goldreich

Carvell

et al. 2002

Physiology & Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some whisker-dependent behaviors, including gap crossing (Hutson and Masterton, 1986), texture discrimination (Guić- Robles et al, 1992), and aperture width discrimination (Krupa et al, 2001), appear to require the somatosensory cortex. In contrast, rats performing passive stimulus frequency discrimination are unaffected by lesions of the somatosensory cortex (Hutson and Masterton, 1986).…”

Section: Dependence Of Object Localization On Cortexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vibrissa-Based Object Localization in Head-Fixed Mice

O’Connor¹,

Clack²,

Huber³

et al. 2010

J. Neurosci.

281

400

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Linking activity in specific cell types with perception, cognition, and action, requires quantitative behavioral experiments in genetic model systems such as the mouse. In head-fixed primates, the combination of precise stimulus control, monitoring of motor output, and physiological recordings over large numbers of trials are the foundation on which many conceptually rich and quantitative studies have been built. Choice-based, quantitative behavioral paradigms for head-fixed mice have not been described previously. Here, we report a somatosensory absolute object localization task for head-fixed mice. Mice actively used their mystacial vibrissae (whiskers) to sense the location of a vertical pole presented to one side of the head and reported with licking whether the pole was in a target (go) or a distracter (no-go) location. Mice performed hundreds of trials with high performance (Ͼ90% correct) and localized to Ͻ0.95 mm (Ͻ6°of azimuthal angle). Learning occurred over 1-2 weeks and was observed both within and across sessions. Mice could perform object localization with single whiskers. Silencing barrel cortex abolished performance to chance levels. We measured whisker movement and shape for thousands of trials. Mice moved their whiskers in a highly directed, asymmetric manner, focusing on the target location. Translation of the base of the whiskers along the face contributed substantially to whisker movements. Mice tended to maximize contact with the go (rewarded) stimulus while minimizing contact with the no-go stimulus. We conjecture that this may amplify differences in evoked neural activity between trial types.

show abstract

“…For this purpose, we used a modification of the Lashley jump-stand apparatus (Guic-Robles et al, 1989; Cybulska-Klosowicz and Kossut, 2001). Successful performance of this task has been convincingly shown to depend on an intact barrel cortex (Guic-Robles et al, 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Deficits in Experience-Dependent Cortical Plasticity and Sensory-Discrimination Learning in Presymptomatic Huntington's Disease Mice

et al. 2005

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Huntington's disease (HD) is one of a group of neurodegenerative diseases caused by an expanded trinucleotide (CAG) repeat coding for an extended polyglutamine tract. The disease is inherited in an autosomal dominant manner, with onset of motor, cognitive, and psychiatric symptoms typically occurring in midlife, followed by unremitting progression and eventual death. We report here that motor presymptomatic R6/1 HD mice show a severe impairment of somatosensory-discrimination learning ability in a behavioral task that depends heavily on the barrel cortex. In parallel, there are deficits in barrel-cortex plasticity after a somatosensory whisker-deprivation paradigm. The present study demonstrates deficits in neocortical plasticity correlated with a specific learning impairment involving the same neocortical area, a finding that provides new insight into the cellular basis of early cognitive deficits in HD.

show abstract

Vibrissal roughness discrimination is barrelcortex-dependent

Cited by 110 publications

References 18 publications

Texture discrimination and unit recordings in the rat whisker/barrel system

Texture discrimination and unit recordings in the rat whisker/barrel system

Vibrissa-Based Object Localization in Head-Fixed Mice

Deficits in Experience-Dependent Cortical Plasticity and Sensory-Discrimination Learning in Presymptomatic Huntington's Disease Mice

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About