Internal cholinergic regulation of learning and recall in a model of olfactory processing

In the olfactory system, cholinergic modulation has been associated with contrast modulation and changes in receptive fields in the olfactory bulb, as well the learning of odor associations in olfactory cortex. Computational modeling and behavioral studies suggest that cholinergic modulation could i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Almeida, Licurgo Benemann de, Idiart, Marco Aurelio Pires, Dean, Owen, Devore, Sasha, Smith, D. M., Linster, Christiane
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:Brasil
Institución:Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS)
Repositorio:Repositório Institucional da UFRGS
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:www.lume.ufrgs.br:10183/159738
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10183/159738
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Acetilcolina
Bulbo olfatório
Neurônios colinérgicos
Interneurônios
Redes neurais
Acetylcholine,
Olfactory bulb
Olfactory cortex
Regulation
Learning
Memory
Descripción
Sumario:In the olfactory system, cholinergic modulation has been associated with contrast modulation and changes in receptive fields in the olfactory bulb, as well the learning of odor associations in olfactory cortex. Computational modeling and behavioral studies suggest that cholinergic modulation could improve sensory processing and learning while preventing pro-active interference when task demands are high. However, how sensory inputs and/or learning regulate incoming modulation has not yet been elucidated. We here use a computational model of the olfactory bulb, piriform cortex (PC) and horizontal limb of the diagonal band of Broca (HDB) to explore how olfactory learning could regulate cholinergic inputs to the system in a closed feedback loop. In our model, the novelty of an odor is reflected in firing rates and sparseness of cortical neurons in response to that odor and these firing rates can directly regulate learning in the system by modifying cholinergic inputs to the system. In the model, cholinergic neurons reduce their firing in response to familiar odors—reducing plasticity in the PC, but increase their firing in response to novel odor—increasing PC plasticity. Recordings from HDB neurons in awake behaving rats reflect predictions from the model by showing that a subset of neurons decrease their firing as an odor becomes familiar.