Establishing A Novel Open Field for Characterizing IL-BLA Circuitry Neurobehavior

Abstract

Mental disorders are a prevailing issue that impact millions of people across the globe yet aren’t well understood. Neuroscientists and psychiatrists have found that these disorders stem from abnormalities within the neural circuitry of the brain. As these circuits are investigated, we can take our knowledge of how key circuits are involved in mental health and develop brain stimulation treatments for disorders. Using rats with neural implants in the infralimbic cortex (IL) and basolateral amygdala (BLA) as translational models of mental illness, we research brain stimulation methods to increase LFP synchrony between these regions. We determined that a new system of measuring neurobehavior was needed for bridging the effects of circuit specific stimulation and coinciding changes in test subject behavior. To do this, I constructed a novel open field that can record neural data, deliver stimulation, and classify behavior based on position and movement analysis.