Active Olfactomotor Responses in Head-Fixed-Mice
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Date
2021
Authors
Cullen, Isabelle
Acosta-King, Jared
Yeh, Dorian
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Olfactomotor responses are respiratory, orofacial, and locomotive movements for sampling and reacting to odors (Rabell et al. 2017, Kurnikova, DeschĂȘnes, and Kleinfeld 2019, Findley et al. 2020, Johnson et al 2003, Wesson et al 2008, Jones and Urban 2018). Altered sensory sampling behaviors, such as eye movement, temperature insensitivity, and pain insensitivity, have been identified in individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In addition, Rozenkrantz et al. (2015) showed that olfactomotor behavior is affected in children with ASD. These children did not modulate sniffing behavior to aversive odors despite correctly identifying odors as unpleasant, suggesting an altered unconscious motor response. To investigate the neural mechanisms underlying olfactomotor sampling, we investigated respiratory and orofacial responses to odor using wildtype mice. Wildtype mice are exposed to 2-phenylethanol (attractive odor), 2- methylbutyric acid (aversive odor), pinene (neutral odor), or clear air over the course of a behavioral session. We record respiration with an intranasal thermistor and track orofacial movements using DeepLabCut. Our preliminary results in wildtype mice suggest that mice alter their sniffing and nose movement in response to odor stimuli. This work will shed light on active olfaction and help us understand more about naturalistic olfactomotor behaviors.
Description
1 page.
Keywords
Neuroscience, Autism, Mice, Behavioral