Biology subjects

Takahashi, D. Y.

Publications and source records attributed to Takahashi, D. Y..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2022

Prenatal development of neonatal vocalizations

Human and non-human primates produce rhythmical sounds as soon as they are born. These early vocalizations are important for soliciting the attention of caregivers. How they develop, remains a mystery. The orofacial movements necessary for producing these vocalizations have distinct spatiotemporal signatures. Therefore, their development could potentially be tracked over the course of prenatal life. We densely and longitudinally sampled fetal head and orofacial movements in marmoset monkeys using ultrasound imaging. We show that orofacial movements necessary for producing rhythmical vocalizations differentiate from a larger movement pattern that includes the entire head. We also show that signature features of marmoset infant contact calls emerge prenatally as a distinct pattern of orofacial movements. Our results establish that aspects of the sensorimotor development necessary for vocalizing occur prenatally, even before the production of sound.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2022

Chronic brain functional ultrasound imaging in freely moving rodents performing cognitive tasks

Functional ultrasound imaging (fUS) is an emerging imaging technique that indirectly measures neural activity via changes in blood volume. To date it has not been used to image chronically during cognitive tasks in freely moving animals. Performing those experiments faces a number of exceptional challenges: performing large durable craniotomies with chronic implants, designing behavioural experiments matching the hemodynamic timescale, stabilizing the ultrasound probe during freely moving behavior, accurately assessing motion artifacts and validating that the animal can perform cognitive tasks at high performance while tethered. In this study, we provide validated solutions for those technical challenges. In addition, we present standardized step-by-step repro-ducible protocols, procedures and data processing pipelines that open up the opportunity to perform fUS in freely moving rodents performing complex cognitive tasks. Moreover, we present proof-of-concept analysis of brain dynamics during a decision making task. We obtain stable recordings from which we can robustly decode task variables from fUS data over multiple months. Moreover, we find that brain wide imaging through hemodynamic response is nonlinearly related to cognitive variables, such as task difficulty, as compared to sensory responses previously explored.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Active neural coordination of motor behaviors with internal states

The brain continuously coordinates skeletomuscular movements with internal physiological states like arousal, but how is this coordination achieved? One possibility is that brain simply reacts to changes in external and/or internal signals. Another possibility is that it is actively coordinating both external and internal activities. We used functional ultrasound imaging to capture a large medial section of the brain, including multiple cortical and subcortical areas, in marmoset monkeys while monitoring their spontaneous movements and cardiac activity. By analyzing the causal ordering of these different time-series, we found that information flowing from the brain to movements and heart rate fluctuations were significantly greater than in the opposite direction. The brain areas involved in this external versus internal coordination were spatially distinct but also extensively interconnected. Temporally, the brain alternated between network states for this regulation. These findings suggest that the brains dynamics actively and efficiently coordinate motor behavior with internal physiology.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Social-vocal brain networks in a non-human primate

During social interactions, individuals influence each other to coordinate their actions. Vocal communication is an exceptionally efficient way to exert such influence. Where and how social interactions are dynamically modulated in the brain is unknown. We used functional ultrasound imaging in marmoset monkeys - a highly vocal species - to investigate the dynamics of medial social brain areas in vocal perception, production, and audio-vocal interaction. We found that the activity of a distributed network of subcortical and cortical regions distinguishes calls associated with different social contexts. This same brain network showed different dynamics during externally and internally driven vocalizations. These findings suggest the existence of a social-vocal brain network in medial cortical and subcortical areas that is fundamental in social communication. One Sentence SummaryA network of medial subcortical and cortical brain areas gate social communication in primates.

neuroscience↗