title: A novel method for precisely timed stimulation of mouse whiskers in a freely moving preparation: application for delivery of the conditioned stimulus in trace eyeblink conditioning.
abstract: The somatosensory whisker pathway has been a useful system for increasing our understanding of experience-induced plasticity. However, precisely timed whisker activation in the awake freely moving mouse has been very difficult. This manuscript describes a method for construction of a whisker stimulator that can be attached to a freely moving mouse. The stimulator was used to activate the whiskers in a time-sensitive forebrain-dependent task, trace eyeblink conditioning. After repeatedly pairing whisker stimulation with delivery of a mild periorbital shock following a stimulus-free trace interval, trace-conditioned mice were able to learn the association. This study demonstrates the potential for using the whisker stimulator in time-sensitive behavioral tasks, such as trace eyeblink conditioning, thus enhancing our ability to examine experience-induced neuronal plasticity in the somatosensory whisker pathway in awake behaving rodents.
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, 303 E. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL, United States. r-galvez@northwestern.edu <r-galvez@northwestern.edu>
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Galvez
authors.forename: Craig
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cua
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Disterhoft
mesh_terms: D000344:Afferent Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001245:Association Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology; D001525:Behavioral Sciences / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D003215:Conditioning, Eyelid / Q000502:physiology*; D004558:Electric Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D004582:Electronics, Medical / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004594:Electrophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009068:Movement / Q000502:physiology; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology; D009482:Neurophysiology / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D016548:Prosencephalon / Q000502:physiology; D013003:Somatosensory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014110:Touch / Q000502:physiology; D014738:Vibrissae / Q000502:physiology*