Analysis of the neural activity in the prefrontal cortex of rats during the temporal learning

• Grant number: 15/08132-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: October 01, 2015
• End date: December 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Marcelo Bussotti Reyes
• Grantee: Gabriela Chiuffa Tunes
• Host Institution: Centro de Matemática, Computação e Cognição (CMCC). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Although the neural basis of time perception has been a target of several studies, it understanding is only at the beginning. The envolvement of several regions and some types of neurons were found in animals trained in tasks that require some temporal organizations learning. Neurons that seem to encode a time interval were described on the hippocampus, thalamus, and pre-frontal cortex. Furthermore, cells that present several types of electrophysiologic behavior were identified, for instance, some neurons increase (or decrease) their spike rate linearly, or some neurons that fire in specific time instants after a start cue. How this neuronal activity emerges during learning tasks has not been much studied. The low number of results in this field of research may be explained because of the long time that learning timing procedures takes. Nevertheless, in recent works, we showed that in timing tasks as fixed-interval and DRRD procedures, it is possible to observe abrupt changes in the behavior of animals associated to learning, occurring from the very first session. In this project, we intend to associate this behavioral expertise with eletrophysiologic recording to study neuron activity pattern in the pre-frontal cortex during the learning phase of the DRRD procedure. We will implant rats with a microarray of 32 electrodes. We intend to identify the abrupt behavioral change points, and how the activity of neurons change during learning, by comparing the activity before and after the behavioral change. (AU)