Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - Caesar (MPINB), Bonn, Germany; International Max Planck Research School for Brain and Behavior, Bonn, Germany.
Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology of Behavior - Caesar (MPINB), Bonn, Germany.
J Neurosci Methods. 2022 Aug 1;378:109657. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2022.109657. Epub 2022 Jun 26.
Drosophila shows a range of visually guided memory and learning behaviors, including place learning. Investigating the dynamics of neural circuits underlying such behaviors requires learning assays in tethered animals, compatible with in vivo imaging experiments.
Here, we introduce an assay for place learning for tethered walking flies. A cylindrical arena is rotated and translated in real time around the fly in concert with the rotational and translational walking activity measured with an air supported ball, resulting in a mechanical virtual reality (VR).
Navigation together with heat-based operant conditioning allows flies to learn the location of a cool spot with respect to a visual landmark. Flies optimize the time and distance required to find the cool spot over a similar number of trials as observed in assays with freely moving flies. Additionally, a fraction of flies remembers the location of the cool spot also after the conditioning heat is removed.
Learning tasks have been implemented in tethered flying as well as walking flies. Mechanically translating and rotating an arena in concert with the fly's walking activity enables navigation in a three dimensional environment.
In the developed mechanical VR flies can learn to remember the location of a cool place within an otherwise hot environment with respect to a visual landmark. Implementing place learning in a tethered walking configuration is a precondition for investigating the underlying circuit dynamics using functional imaging.
果蝇表现出一系列视觉引导的记忆和学习行为，包括位置学习。研究支持这些行为的神经回路的动态需要在系留动物中进行学习测定，这与体内成像实验兼容。
在这里，我们为系留行走的苍蝇引入了一种位置学习测定法。一个圆柱形竞技场实时旋转和翻译，与通过空气支撑球测量的旋转和翻译行走活动协调一致，从而产生机械虚拟现实 (VR)。
导航以及基于热的操作性条件作用使苍蝇能够学习相对于视觉地标凉爽点的位置。苍蝇在与自由移动苍蝇的测定中观察到的类似试验次数内优化了找到凉爽点所需的时间和距离。此外，在去除条件热后，苍蝇的一部分会记住凉爽点的位置。
在系留飞行和行走苍蝇中已经实施了学习任务。机械地翻译和旋转竞技场，与苍蝇的行走活动协调一致，使苍蝇能够在三维环境中导航。
在开发的机械 VR 中，苍蝇可以学习记住相对于视觉地标在其他热环境中凉爽位置的位置。在系留行走配置中实现位置学习是使用功能成像研究潜在电路动态的前提。
