Banca de DEFESA: JOSEPH ANDREWS BELO ALVES

Uma banca de DEFESA de DOUTORADO foi cadastrada pelo programa.
STUDENT : JOSEPH ANDREWS BELO ALVES
DATE: 25/07/2024
TIME: 09:00
LOCAL: INSTITUTO DO CEREBRO - UFRN
TITLE:

Synchronization of frontal brain networks by the respiratory rhythm in rats exploratory behavior.

KEY WORDS:

respiration, respiration coupled oscillations, behavior, active sensing, prefrontal cortex;

PAGES: 85
BIG AREA: Ciências Biológicas
AREA: Fisiologia
SUMMARY:

Breathing is a fundamental physiological process, yet its significance extends beyond cellular respiration. The rhythmic control of respiration has been associated with cognitive enhancement, increased self-awareness, and relaxation. However, how the breathing pattern relates to the brain and behavior remains unclear. Rodents synchronize sensorimotor rhythms to respiration during active sensing, such as head and whisker movements. It suggests that the breathing cycle could be relevant for environmental neural coding. Here, we characterize how 
the breathing cycle modulates frontal brain activity during animal engagement in active states. To do so, we look for episodes in which the brain and breathing synchronize in these contexts, called respiratory-coupled oscillations (RCOs). We conducted our experiments in an apparatus composed of two opposing platforms separated by a gap (gap paradigm), where they could interact spontaneously with an object or social stimulus at different times. During the experiments, we simultaneously recorded rats' behavior, intranasal pressure, and frontal brain electrical activity. First, we analyzed the behavioral variables by tracking the head positions over time to extract occupancy and head speed during resting and active states. During the activity, animals were more encouraged to stay over the gap in social than object contexts. These events were characterized by rats guiding their heads toward the opposite platform at high respiratory rates (> 5 Hz). We also observed active episodes away from the gap, mainly on the opposite wall. We performed coherence analysis to identify respiration-coupled oscillations in the local-field potentials of the olfactory bulb and, medial-orbital, pre-limbic, and anterior cingulate cortices. This revealed levels of coherence to breathing above chance in all brain regions, both in rest and active states, with values generally decreasing from the anterior-most (OB) to the posterior-most region (Cg). Our results show that these areas are distinctly modulated by the breathing cycle during classes of exploratory contexts. We conclude that the breathing cycle is relevant to rat exploratory behavior and that the RCOs could mediate the coordination between respiration, behavior, and cognition, representing an approach to study the mechanisms behind the behavioral modulation.

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
Presidente - 2069422 - DIEGO ANDRES LAPLAGNE
Interna - 1976236 - EMELIE KATARINA SVAHN LEAO
Externo à Instituição - RAMÓN HYPOLITO LIMA
Externa à Instituição - ROCHELE VASCONCELOS CASTELO BRANCO MOURAO
Interno - 1698305 - RODRIGO NEVES ROMCY PEREIRA