Researchers have highlighted a key neural circuit that shows how animals adapt their behavior to changes in their environment, potentially opening the way to new treatments for behavioral disorders.
- A research team highlighted a key neural circuit allowing the brain to adapt quickly to changes.
- Led on mice, it shows that a rapid communication between the piriform cortex, involved in the treatment of odors, and the olfactory bulb, which receives initial sensory information, helps to adjust behavior to new rules. By deactivating this circuit, the researchers observed an increased difficulty in adaptation.
- This discovery questions the strict separation of the senses in the brain and could lead to advances to treat disorders affecting cognitive flexibility, such as autism or certain neurodegenerative diseases.
Rapid adaptability of the brain in the face of changes is essential for survival. However, the mechanisms underlying this flexibility have so far been misunderstood. A new study, published in Nature Communicationshighlights a key neural circuit that plays the role of rapid update system, allowing animals to quickly adjust their behavior in the face of changes in their environment.
An essential neural circuit for fast learning
Led by researchers from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (United States) and the Institute of Transylvania Neuroscience (TINS), the study became interested in the way mice learn and adapt when the rules of reward change. This mechanism is based on rapid communication between two regions of the brain: the piriform cortex, involved in the treatment of odors, and the olfactory bulb, which receives initial sensory information.
The researchers have led mice to react to sensory stimuli (odors or sounds) to obtain water. Sometimes an odor meant a reward and a sound indicated to wait. But these rules were modified without notice, specifies a press release. The mice therefore had to identify these changes and adjust their behavior accordingly.
Thanks to specialized microscopes, scientists observed in real time the activation of the brain circuits of mice during these tasks. They found that these regions of the brain, initially known to process odors, also manage sound information and linked to rewards. This flexibility allows rapid and effective adaptation.
By analyzing these connections, the researchers found that the descendant signals from the olfactory cortex transmit information on the “reward” value of the stimulus to the olfactory bulb, whether it is a sound or an odor. This quick communication helps animals to adjust their behavior in only a few tests.
A mechanism adaptable to other sensory systems?
To verify the importance of this circuit, the researchers temporarily disabled this connection using light -sensitive proteins. Result: mice had much more difficulty adapting their behavior, confirming the key role of this neural circuit.
This study questions the idea that each sense is treated in isolation in the brain. On the contrary, neural circuits seem to share and integrate different types of information according to the context and needs of the animal.
Researchers now want to study if similar mechanisms exist for vision or touch. These works could lead to new strategies to deal with disorders where behavioral flexibility is altered, as in autism or certain neurodegenerative diseases.
A recent study highlighted a key neural circuit allowing the brain to adapt quickly to changes.
Led on mice, it shows that a rapid communication between the piriform cortex, involved in the treatment of odors, and the olfactory bulb, which receives initial sensory information, helps to adjust behavior to new rules.
By deactivating this circuit, the researchers observed an increased difficulty in adaptation. This discovery questions the strict separation of the senses in the brain and could lead to advances to treat disorders affecting cognitive flexibility, such as autism or certain neurodegenerative diseases.
