Your browser doesn't support javascript.
loading
Show: 20 | 50 | 100
Results 1 - 5 de 5
Filter
Add more filters










Database
Language
Publication year range
1.
Nat Rev Neurosci ; 25(7): 453-472, 2024 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38806946

ABSTRACT

The olfactory system is an ideal and tractable system for exploring how the brain transforms sensory inputs into behaviour. The basic tasks of any olfactory system include odour detection, discrimination and categorization. The challenge for the olfactory system is to transform the high-dimensional space of olfactory stimuli into the much smaller space of perceived objects and valence that endows odours with meaning. Our current understanding of how neural circuits address this challenge has come primarily from observations of the mechanisms of the brain for processing other sensory modalities, such as vision and hearing, in which optimized deep hierarchical circuits are used to extract sensory features that vary along continuous physical dimensions. The olfactory system, by contrast, contends with an ill-defined, high-dimensional stimulus space and discrete stimuli using a circuit architecture that is shallow and parallelized. Here, we present recent observations in vertebrate and invertebrate systems that relate the statistical structure and state-dependent modulation of olfactory codes to mechanisms of perception and odour-guided behaviour.


Subject(s)
Invertebrates , Odorants , Olfactory Pathways , Smell , Vertebrates , Animals , Invertebrates/physiology , Vertebrates/physiology , Smell/physiology , Humans , Olfactory Pathways/physiology , Olfactory Perception/physiology
2.
Neuron ; 101(4): 738-747.e3, 2019 02 20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30654923

ABSTRACT

Thermosensation is critical for avoiding thermal extremes and regulating body temperature. While thermosensors activated by noxious temperatures respond to hot or cold, many innocuous thermosensors exhibit robust baseline activity and lack discrete temperature thresholds, suggesting they are not simply warm and cool detectors. Here, we investigate how the aristal Cold Cells encode innocuous temperatures in Drosophila. We find they are not cold sensors but cooling-activated and warming-inhibited phasic thermosensors that operate similarly at warm and cool temperatures; we propose renaming them "Cooling Cells." Unexpectedly, Cooling Cell thermosensing does not require the previously reported Brivido Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) channels. Instead, three Ionotropic Receptors (IRs), IR21a, IR25a, and IR93a, specify both the unique structure of Cooling Cell cilia endings and their thermosensitivity. Behaviorally, Cooling Cells promote both warm and cool avoidance. These findings reveal a morphogenetic role for IRs and demonstrate the central role of phasic thermosensing in innocuous thermosensation. VIDEO ABSTRACT.


Subject(s)
Drosophila Proteins/metabolism , Neurogenesis , Receptors, Ionotropic Glutamate/metabolism , Sensory Receptor Cells/metabolism , Thermosensing , Animals , Drosophila Proteins/genetics , Drosophila melanogaster , Receptors, Ionotropic Glutamate/genetics , Sensory Receptor Cells/cytology , Sensory Receptor Cells/physiology , Thermotolerance
3.
WormBook ; : 1-10, 2014 Feb 20.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24563245

ABSTRACT

This chapter describes four different protocols used to assay thermotaxis navigation behavior of single, or populations of, C. elegans hermaphrodites on spatial thermal gradients within the physiological temperature range (15-25°C). A method to assay avoidance of noxious temperatures is also described.


Subject(s)
Caenorhabditis elegans/physiology , Animals , Locomotion/physiology , Thermosensing
4.
Cell Rep ; 5(2): 553-63, 2013 Oct 31.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24209746

ABSTRACT

Inactivation of selected neurons in vivo can define their contribution to specific developmental outcomes, circuit functions, and behaviors. Here, we show that the optogenetic tool KillerRed selectively, rapidly, and permanently inactivates different classes of neurons in C. elegans in response to a single light stimulus, through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Ablation scales from individual neurons in single animals to multiple neurons in populations and can be applied to freely behaving animals. Using spatially restricted illumination, we demonstrate that localized KillerRed activation in either the cell body or the axon triggers neuronal degeneration and death of the targeted cell. Finally, targeting KillerRed to mitochondria results in organelle fragmentation without killing the cell, in contrast to the cell death observed when KillerRed is targeted to the plasma membrane. We expect this genetic tool to have wide-ranging applications in studies of circuit function and subcellular responses to ROS.


Subject(s)
GABAergic Neurons/metabolism , Green Fluorescent Proteins/metabolism , Reactive Oxygen Species/metabolism , Animals , Apoptosis/drug effects , Apoptosis/radiation effects , Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolism , GABAergic Neurons/drug effects , Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics , Green Fluorescent Proteins/pharmacology , Light , Microscopy, Video , Superoxide Dismutase/metabolism
5.
Nat Methods ; 10(8): 713-4, 2013 Aug.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23900253

ABSTRACT

We present a summary of the scientific deliberations and major conclusions that arose from a workshop on the BRAIN Initiative.


Subject(s)
Behavior/physiology , Brain/physiology , Neurons/physiology , Neurosciences/methods , Animals , Humans , United States
SELECTION OF CITATIONS
SEARCH DETAIL
...