Guo Peiyuan, Pollack Alan J, Varga Adrienn G, Martin Joshua P, Ritzmann Roy E
Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University.
Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University;
J Vis Exp. 2014 Apr 1(86):51337. doi: 10.3791/51337.
Increasing interest in the role of brain activity in insect motor control requires that we be able to monitor neural activity while insects perform natural behavior. We previously developed a technique for implanting tetrode wires into the central complex of cockroach brains that allowed us to record activity from multiple neurons simultaneously while a tethered cockroach turned or altered walking speed. While a major advance, tethered preparations provide access to limited behaviors and often lack feedback processes that occur in freely moving animals. We now present a modified version of that technique that allows us to record from the central complex of freely moving cockroaches as they walk in an arena and deal with barriers by turning, climbing or tunneling. Coupled with high speed video and cluster cutting, we can now relate brain activity to various parameters of the movement of freely behaving insects.
对大脑活动在昆虫运动控制中作用的兴趣日益增加，这要求我们能够在昆虫进行自然行为时监测其神经活动。我们之前开发了一种将四极电极线植入蟑螂大脑中央复合体的技术，该技术使我们能够在被束缚的蟑螂转身或改变行走速度时同时记录多个神经元的活动。虽然这是一个重大进展，但束缚实验只能观察到有限的行为，并且通常缺乏自由移动动物中发生的反馈过程。我们现在展示了该技术的改进版本，它使我们能够在自由移动的蟑螂在竞技场中行走并通过转身、攀爬或挖掘来应对障碍物时，记录其大脑中央复合体的活动。结合高速视频和聚类切割技术，我们现在可以将大脑活动与自由行为昆虫运动的各种参数联系起来。
