Mapping GC topographic organization using 2-photon calcium imaging in alert mice
Description: PROJECT NARRATIVE The gustatory cortex (GC) is the primary cortical area devoted to processing taste. Neurons in GC represent the sensory quality (i.e., sweet, savory, salty, sour, bitter) of gustatory stimuli. Understanding how GC neurons encode gustatory information is one of the central questions in the field. The recent application of 2-photon calcium microscopy to image the surface of GC has unveiled that tastants may be encoded by spatial patterns of activity. However, technical limitations have limited the imaging of GC to anesthetized animals. As a result, it is unknown whether and how spatial codes are relevant also in alert animals. The goal of this proposal is to develop an experimental approach to perform 2-photon calcium imaging to map the surface of GC in alert animals, either sampling tastants or performing taste discriminations. The results of this research will provide important information on how spatial patterns of activity are affected by wakefulness and experience, and how they relate to taste perception. Establishing this technical pipeline will allow us to open a new direction for studying GC and its involvement in taste and taste-related behaviors in physiological and pathological conditions.
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: R21
Start date: 2018-12-01
End date: 2021-11-30
Investigator: ALFREDO FONTANINI
Institution: STATE UNIVERSITY NEW YORK STONY BROOK
Funded outputs count: 3
Funder award ID: R21DC017681
OpenAlex ID: G68375153