Biology subjects

Sloin, H. E.

Publications and source records attributed to Sloin, H. E..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

Short-term auditory priming in freely-moving mice

Priming, a change in the mental processing of a stimulus as a result of prior encounter with a related stimulus, has been observed repeatedly and studied extensively. Yet currently there is no behavioral model of short-term priming in lab animals, limiting the study of the neurobiological basis of priming. Here, we describe an auditory discrimination paradigm for studying response priming in freely-moving mice. We find a priming effect in success rate in all mice tested on the task. In contrast to humans, we do not find a priming effect in response times. Compared to non-primed discrimination trials, the addition of incongruent prime stimuli reduces success rate more than congruent prime stimuli, suggesting a cognitive mechanism based on differential interference. The results establish the short-term priming phenomenon in rodents, and the paradigm opens the door to studying the cellular-network basis of priming.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2023

Positive and biphasic extracellular waveforms correspond to return currents and axonal spikes

Multiple biophysical mechanisms may generate non-negative extracellular waveforms during action potentials, but the origin and prevalence of positive spikes and biphasic spikes in the intact brain are unknown. Using extracellular recordings from densely-connected cortical networks in freely-moving mice, we find that a tenth of the waveforms are non-negative. Positive phases of non-negative spikes occur in synchrony or just before wider same-unit negative spikes. Narrow positive spikes occur in isolation in the white matter. Isolated biphasic spikes are narrower than negative spikes, occurring right after spikes of verified inhibitory units. In CA1, units with dominant non-negative spikes exhibit place fields, phase precession, and phase-locking to ripples. Thus, near-somatic narrow positive extracellular potentials correspond to return currents, and isolated non-negative spikes correspond to axonal potentials. Identifying non-negative extracellular waveforms that correspond to non-somatic compartments during spikes can enhance the understanding of physiological and pathological neural mechanisms in intact animals.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Hybrid offspring of C57BL/6J mice exhibit improved properties for neurobehavioral research

C57BL/6 is the most commonly used mouse strain in neurobehavioral research, serving as a background for multiple transgenic lines. However, C57BL/6 exhibit behavioral and sensorimotor disadvantages that worsen with age. We bred FVB/NJ females and C57BL/6J males to generate first-generation hybrid offspring, (FVB/NJ x C57BL/6J)F1. The hybrid mice exhibit reduced anxiety-like behavior, improved learning, and enhanced long-term spatial memory. In contrast to both progenitors, older hybrids maintain sensorimotor performance and exhibit improved long-term memory. The hybrids are larger than C57BL/6J, exhibiting enhanced running behavior on a linear track during freely-moving electrophysiological recordings. Hybrids exhibit typical rate and phase coding of space by CA1 pyramidal cells. Hybrids generated by crossing FVB/NJ females with transgenic males of a C57BL/6 background support optogenetic neuronal control in neocortex and hippocampus. The hybrid mice provide an improved model for neurobehavioral studies combining complex behavior, electrophysiology, and genetic tools readily available in C57BL/6 mice.

neuroscience↗