Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT 46-5130, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
J Neurosci Methods. 2011 Apr 15;197(1):32-47. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2011.01.024. Epub 2011 Feb 1.
Traditional lesion or inactivation methods are useful for determining if a given brain area is involved in the generation of a behavior, but not for determining if circuit dynamics in that area control the timing of the behavior. In contrast, localized mild cooling or heating of a brain area alters the speed of neuronal and circuit dynamics and can reveal the role of that area in the control of timing. It has been shown that miniaturized solid-state heat pumps based on the Peltier effect can be useful for analyzing brain dynamics in small freely behaving animals (Long and Fee, 2008). Here we present a theoretical analysis of these devices and a procedure for optimizing their design. We describe the construction and implementation of one device for cooling surface brain areas, such as cortex, and another device for cooling deep brain regions. We also present measurements of the magnitude and localization of the brain temperature changes produced by these two devices.
传统的损伤或失活方法对于确定特定脑区是否参与行为的产生是有用的，但对于确定该脑区的回路动力学是否控制行为的时间则没有帮助。相比之下，局部轻度冷却或加热脑区可以改变神经元和回路动力学的速度，并揭示该脑区在控制时间方面的作用。已经表明，基于珀耳帖效应的小型化固态热泵对于分析小型自由活动动物的大脑动力学是有用的（Long 和 Fee，2008）。在这里，我们对这些设备进行了理论分析，并提出了优化其设计的程序。我们描述了一种用于冷却表面脑区（如皮质）的设备的构建和实施，以及另一种用于冷却深部脑区的设备。我们还展示了这两种设备产生的大脑温度变化的幅度和定位的测量结果。
