Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Center for Smell and Taste, Center for Addiction Research and Education, Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases, University of Florida, 1200 Newell Dr., Gainesville, FL 32610, United States.
Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, 110 Johnson Pavilion, 3610 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104, United States.
Cereb Cortex. 2023 Feb 7;33(4):1504-1526. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhac153.
Sensory perception is profoundly shaped by attention. Attending to an odor strongly regulates if and how it is perceived - yet the brain systems involved in this process are unknown. Here we report integration of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a collection of brain regions integral to attention, with the olfactory system in the context of selective attention to odors.
First, we used tracing methods to establish the tubular striatum (TuS, also known as the olfactory tubercle) as the primary olfactory region to receive direct mPFC input in rats. Next, we recorded (i) local field potentials from the olfactory bulb (OB), mPFC, and TuS, or (ii) sniffing, while rats completed an olfactory selective attention task.
Gamma power and coupling of gamma oscillations with theta phase were consistently high as rats flexibly switched their attention to odors. Beta and theta synchrony between mPFC and olfactory regions were elevated as rats switched their attention to odors. Finally, we found that sniffing was consistent despite shifting attentional demands, suggesting that the mPFC-OB theta coherence is independent of changes in active sampling.
Together, these findings begin to define an olfactory attention network wherein mPFC activity, as well as that within olfactory regions, are coordinated based upon attentional states.
感觉知觉受到注意力的深刻影响。注意力集中在一种气味上强烈地调节了它是否以及如何被感知——然而，参与这一过程的大脑系统尚不清楚。在这里，我们报告了内侧前额叶皮层（mPFC）与嗅觉系统的整合，mPFC 是注意力的关键区域之一，在选择性注意气味的情况下与嗅觉系统整合。
首先，我们使用示踪方法确定管状纹状体（TuS，也称为嗅结节）是大鼠接收直接 mPFC 输入的主要嗅觉区域。接下来，我们记录了（i）嗅球（OB）、mPFC 和 TuS 的局部场电位，或（ii）大鼠在完成嗅觉选择性注意任务时的嗅探。
当大鼠灵活地将注意力转向气味时，伽马功率和伽马振荡与 theta 相位的耦合一直很高。当大鼠将注意力转向气味时，mPFC 和嗅觉区域之间的 beta 和 theta 同步性增加。最后，我们发现尽管注意力需求发生了变化，但嗅探仍然保持一致，这表明 mPFC-OB 的 theta 相干性独立于主动采样的变化。
这些发现共同定义了一个嗅觉注意力网络，其中 mPFC 的活动以及嗅觉区域的活动都根据注意力状态进行协调。
