Publicação
Investigating climbing fiber activity during locomotor learning
| Resumo: | Patients with cerebellar damage invariably display impairments in locomotion. The cerebellum is vital for calibrating motor patterns, and it achieves this by integrating neural signals from two main inputs: mossy and climbing fibers. Whilst the former incorporates contextual sensory information, the latter informs the cerebellum about movement errors. These error signals, that originate in the contralateral inferior olive, are essential to promote changes in motor patterns that eventually lead to motor learning. However, it is still not clear how exactly these climbing fibers are involved in complex tasks that require the coordination of different body parts. In this work, we aim to understand the role of the climbing fiber signals in a locomotor learning task. Here, we developed methods to 1) optogenetically perturb climbing fiber activity, and 2) image climbing fiber responses in the cerebellar cortex using calcium imaging. Preliminary results from the optogenetic experiments highlight the necessity of successfully targeting climbing fibers with a combined genetic and anatomical approach to achieve sufficient specificity. In the imaging experiments we demonstrate successful single-cell identification and signal extraction in the cerebellar cortex. This work provides tools to study the role of the climbing fibers during locomotor learning. |
|---|---|
| Autores principais: | Bettencourt, Hugo Viana |
| Assunto: | Cerebelo Fibras trepadeiras Locomoção Aprendizagem motora Optogenetica Microscopia de indicadores sensíveis a flutuações de cálcio Teses de mestrado - 2018 |
| Ano: | 2018 |
| País: | Portugal |
| Tipo de documento: | dissertação de mestrado |
| Tipo de acesso: | acesso aberto |
| Instituição associada: | Universidade de Lisboa |
| Idioma: | inglês |
| Origem: | Repositório da Universidade de Lisboa |
| Resumo: | Patients with cerebellar damage invariably display impairments in locomotion. The cerebellum is vital for calibrating motor patterns, and it achieves this by integrating neural signals from two main inputs: mossy and climbing fibers. Whilst the former incorporates contextual sensory information, the latter informs the cerebellum about movement errors. These error signals, that originate in the contralateral inferior olive, are essential to promote changes in motor patterns that eventually lead to motor learning. However, it is still not clear how exactly these climbing fibers are involved in complex tasks that require the coordination of different body parts. In this work, we aim to understand the role of the climbing fiber signals in a locomotor learning task. Here, we developed methods to 1) optogenetically perturb climbing fiber activity, and 2) image climbing fiber responses in the cerebellar cortex using calcium imaging. Preliminary results from the optogenetic experiments highlight the necessity of successfully targeting climbing fibers with a combined genetic and anatomical approach to achieve sufficient specificity. In the imaging experiments we demonstrate successful single-cell identification and signal extraction in the cerebellar cortex. This work provides tools to study the role of the climbing fibers during locomotor learning. |
|---|