Last Updated on July 8, 2020
Did you know that our wireless optogenetics system is fully compatible with our Touch Panel operant chambers?
Using our Teleopto Wireless Optogenetics system in combination with the Touch Panel operant training system, you can manipulate neuronal activity in real-time during operant behavior.
Our Touch Panel operant chamber has several key features that make it a wise choice for rodent behavior, specifically mouse behavioral testing. The unique trapezoidal design creates a space for animals to focus more on the screen ahead during rodent behavior testing. In addition, the Touch Panel operant training system contains infrared (IR) sensor technology to improve the accuracy with which the system can detect touch responses from mice and rats. Program anywhere between two-choice and five-choice tasks with the Touch Panel operant training system. It is extremely versatile and suitable for a wide range of learning and memory paradigms for rodent behavior.
Now with Teleopto Wireless Optogenetics, you can use 2 channel pulse receivers enabling you with more flexibility over your experimental design.
You can use our 2 channel pulse receivers for stimulation and inhibition at a single site or in combination with bilateral implants, allowing independent control of each side.
Current Teleopto customer, Hirofumi Morishita at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is examining mechanisms of developmental critical periods in the Prefrontal Cortex. Loosely, he is interested in examining how attentional processes are shaped during the critical period and what goes wrong in this process in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders by studying attention.
Attention is a goal-directed process by which animals can pull out task-relevant sensory stimuli from noisy environments. Deficits in attention are common to many psychiatric disorders, including autism, schizophrenia, and depression.
Currently, the Morishita lab is focused on understanding the connections between frontal and visual cortices that guide attentional processing. Previous work has demonstrated that the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) in the frontal cortex has “top-down” control of sensory processing in the Visual Cortex (VIS), but how this processing contributes to attention is not well understood.
The Morishita lab is using a variety of circuit-based techniques to monitor and manipulate neural activity in mice performing freely moving attention behavior tasks. Using Teleopto wireless optogenetics, the Morishita lab found that stimulation of top-down projection neurons in the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC) during the five-choice serial reaction time task (sustained attentional task) improved attentional performance. They also found that optogenetic inactivation of top-down projection terminals of ACC neurons in the visual cortex (VIS) in mice disrupts attentional behavior in the same five-choice serial reaction time task. Their data demonstrates that recruitment of long-range prefrontal-sensory projections from the ACC to VIS cortex is essential for successful task performance on attentionally demanding tasks.
The Watanabe lab at Kyoto University is currently using the Touch Panel operant training system to measure attentional deficits in senescent mice using the five-choice serial reaction time task. They hope to better understand how neural circuits controlling attention degrade over time. Right now they are only running mouse behavioral tests, but soon they plan to incorporate neurophysiology in freely moving mice. Stay tuned for research updates from the Watanabe lab.
Are you interested in learning how you can monitor and manipulate neural circuits in freely moving animals for rodent behavior? Connect with one of our experts at AMUZA to learn more!