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Understanding the contribution of the mediodorsal thalamus in gustatory processing

Award Number: R01DC019326
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/13/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

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Understanding the contribution of the mediodorsal thalamus in gustatory processing - PROJECT SUMMARY Recent studies on the gustatory portion of the insular cortex (gustatory cortex, GC) have demonstrated its role in integrating sensory, affective, and cognitive signals associated with the experience of food. Indeed, GC neurons do not just encode the chemosensory features of gustatory stimuli but can also process hedonic value (i.e. liking or disliking) and information on multisensory stimuli anticipating taste. Understanding how GC performs the complex integration of chemosensory, affective, and anticipatory information is one of the major efforts in the field. It is generally believed that GC achieves this level of integration by processing inputs from sensory and limbic areas including the gustatory thalamus (VPMpc), the basolateral amygdala (BLA), and the mediodorsal thalamic nuclei (MD). While the functions of VPMpc and BLA have been studied, very little is known regarding the contribution of MD in taste. Using mice as a model system, the proposed research will rely on multiple experimental approaches to test the general hypothesis that the MD conveys taste quality, reward-related, and associative signals that contribute to processes in the GC that can impact taste-related behaviors. Specific Aim 1 will use electrophysiological recordings and behavioral training to characterize the taste and taste-predicting cues response profile in the MD. Specific Aim 2 will combine neural recordings, behavioral training and chemogenetic manipulation to unveil the effect of MD inputs on GC response profiles pertaining to taste quality and taste-predicting anticipatory cues. Finally, the experiment in Specific Aim 3 will rely on a behavioral task and chemogenetic manipulation to determine the role of the MD-GC connection in helping to establish incentive values of neutral auditory cues in the acquisition of cue-taste associations. Altogether, the results obtained from these experiments will provide a comprehensive system-level investigation on the role of MD in taste processing. If successful, this work will lead the way for the MD thalamus as a potential crucial brain region involved in the integration and communication of behaviorally relevant chemosensory information.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $376,756 )
2026	2026	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	5	2/10/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$37,676
2026	2026	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	5	12/2/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$339,080
														Subtotal = $376,756

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $376,837 )
2025	2025	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	4	12/5/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$339,154
2025	2025	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	4	4/29/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$37,683
														Subtotal = $376,837

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $376,918 )
2024	2024	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	3	12/8/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$339,226
2024	2024	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	3	5/7/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$37,692
														Subtotal = $376,918

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $360,798 )
2023	2023	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	001	2	1/13/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$36,080
2023	2023	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	2	12/22/2022	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$324,718
														Subtotal = $360,798

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $339,277 )
2022	2022	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY	874 TRADITIONS WAY	TALLAHASSEE	FL	32306	LEON	USA	Research Related to Deafness and Communication Disorders	000	1	1/12/2022	NEW	$339,277
														Subtotal = $339,277

Grand Total All Awards = $1,830,586

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Understanding the contribution of the mediodorsal thalamus in gustatory processing

Award Number: R01DC019326

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON DEAFNESS AND OTHER COMMUNICATION DISORDERS

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 01/13/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 12/31/2026

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