Cerebellar processing is associated with the accurate performance of a range of behaviors, from sensorimotor transformations to executive control. Given this wide range, there is remarkable consistency across modality and species in the organization of cerebellar microcircuitry and the closed-loop manner with which cerebellar regions are connected to other brain areas. This consistency suggests a common computational role, which we hypothesize is most generally described as an adaptive temporal filter. To test this hypothesis, we will investigate cerebellar function in a simple motor plasticity, the learning of fixation stability. In this setting, processing as an adaptive filter should be realized as a capacity in the cerebellum to alternatively act as a proportional, integrating, or differentiating gain element.
In Aim 1, cerebellar filtering will be assessed by using two-photon calcium imaging in the larval zebrafish to measure activity at both input granule and output Purkinje cells populations. Adaptation of the filter will be determined by measuring changes in the relationship between input and output neurons as fixations are trained toward greater or lesser stability.
In Aim 2, computational models of the cerebellum will be constructed that generate the experimentally measured signal transformation and make predictions about the mechanisms of cerebellar filtering. These predictions will be tested by focal stimulation of granule cells and measurement of resultant Purkinje neuron responses. Together these data promise to generate the most complete understanding to date of the cerebellum's computational importance in behavior.

Public Health Relevance

The cerebellum contains almost half of all neurons in the brain, yet we don't have clear understanding what the cerebellum does. In this project we will determine how information is processed in the cerebellum by recording from the majority of cerebellar neurons during behavior. These results will lay the groundwork necessary to develop treatments for diseases of cerebellar function, including spino-cerebellar ataxia, dyslexia, and autism.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Eye Institute (NEI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01EY021581-03
Application #
8658089
Study Section
Sensorimotor Integration Study Section (SMI)
Program Officer
Araj, Houmam H
Project Start
2012-04-01
Project End
2017-03-31
Budget Start
2014-04-01
Budget End
2015-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$541,436
Indirect Cost
$165,189
Name
Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Department
Physiology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
060217502
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10065
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Lee, Melanie M; Arrenberg, Aristides B; Aksay, Emre R F (2015) A structural and genotypic scaffold underlying temporal integration. J Neurosci 35:7903-20
Lewin, Naomi; Aksay, Emre; Clancy, Colleen E (2012) Computational modeling reveals dendritic origins of GABA(A)-mediated excitation in CA1 pyramidal neurons. PLoS One 7:e47250