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Sniffing and Whisking in Rodents CONEUR-1013; NO. OF PAGES 8 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com Sniffing and whisking in rodents 1 2 3,4 Martin Descheˆ nes , Jeffrey Moore and David Kleinfeld Sniffing and whisking are two rhythmic orofacial motor they shape olfactory and tactile sensations in rodents. We activities that enable rodents to localize and track objects in place special emphasis on the behavioral significance of their environment. They have related temporal dynamics, the apparent coordination of these patterned activities. possibly as a result of both shared musculature and shared sensory tasks. Sniffing and whisking also constitute the overt A link between sniffing and whisking expression of an animal’s anticipation of a reward. Yet, the In a now classic paper published in 1964, Welker [2] neuronal mechanisms that underlie the control of these provided the first descriptive account of the sniffing behaviors have not been established. Here, we review the behavior in rats. Using cinematographic technique, he similarities between sniffing and whisking and suggest that reported that sniffing consists of an integrated movement such similarities indicate a mechanistic link between these two sequence involving: (1) bursts of polypnea, (2) recurrent rhythmic exploratory behaviors. protraction and retraction of mystacial vibrissae, (3) Addresses repetitive retraction and protraction of the tip of the 1 Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, snout, and (4) a rapid series of head movements and Laval University, Que´ bec City G1J 2G3, Canada fixations. These four components occur at rates between 2 Graduate Program in Neurosciences, UCSD, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA 3 5 and 11 Hz, in bursts of various durations, and ‘‘exhibit a Department of Physics, UCSD, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA 4 fixed temporal relationship to one another’’ (Figure 1b). Department of Neurobiology, UCSD, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA Welker further made the little noticed remark that ‘‘Poly- Corresponding author: Descheˆ nes, Martin pnea and nose movements together may occur indepen- ([email protected]) dently of vibrissae and head movements, but rapid vibrissae or head movements were never observed to occur independently of polypnea and nose movements’’. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2011, 22:1–8 In short, Welker noted that whisking was always coupled This review comes from a themed issue on to sniffing. This temporal relationship is illustrated in Neuroethology Figure 1c,d, where whisking and sniffing were recorded as Edited by Michael Dickinson and Cynthia Moss a rat explores the exit of a tunnel (Figure 1a). Welker’s seminal observations did not raise immediate 0959-4388/$ – see front matter interest in the sensorimotor community as the rodent # 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. vibrissa (barrel) cortex had yet to be discovered [3], and most sensorimotor work at that time was focused on DOI 10.1016/j.conb.2011.11.013 primates. Later studies in the field of respiratory physi- ology alluded to Welker’s findings in reporting instances of facial nerve, muscle, or motoneuron activity that were Introduction time-locked to different phases of the respiratory cycle When one observes rodents introduced in a new environ- [4–6]. Interestingly, the nasolabial muscle, which con- ment, one immediately notices that they are extremely tributes to flare of the naris during sniffing, also acts as a curious [1]. They run about, stand up on their hind legs, retractor muscle during whisking [7,8]. This dual role crane their necks forward, and repeatedly explore the suggests an obligate neuromuscular coupling between whole environment by sniffing and whisking vigorously. whisking and sniffing that requires coordinated control Psychologists have described curiosity as a drive like to ensure that these behaviors do not interfere with each hunger and thirst, which implies that gathering infor- other. mation is rewarding. In experimental studies, sniffing and whisking are commonly considered as motor strat- Rhythmogenesis of sniffing and whisking egies for rapidly gathering detailed information about the Sniffing in rats is usually defined as rapid, rhythmic location, texture, and scent of objects. Yet, it is intriguing respiration [2,9]. Rats, unlike humans, always breathe that decorticated rats, or rats deprived of olfactory and nasally, so lower frequencies (1–3 Hz) correspond to basal vibrissa afferents, continue to sniff and whisk in a rela- respiration while higher frequencies (4–12 Hz) corre- tively normal manner. Therefore, beyond the obvious spond to ‘sniffing’ per se. Although rats and mice are intuition that vibrissae are ‘for touch’ and noses ‘for commonly used in studies of respiratory rhythmogenesis, smell’, it is not clear why rhythmic activity is associated the neural mechanisms underlying the generation of with the use of these sensors. Here, we examine the sniffing remain unknown. One possibility is that sniffing dynamics of rhythmic sniffing and whisking, and how relies on an increased rate of bursts in the central pattern www.sciencedirect.com Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2011, 22:1–8 Please cite this article in press as: Descheˆnes M, et al. Sniffing and whisking in rodents, Curr Opin Neurobiol (2011), doi:10.1016/j.conb.2011.11.013 CONEUR-1013; NO. OF PAGES 8 2 Neuroethology Figure 1 (a) (b) retract protract vibrissae exhalation withdraw approach head inhalation protract retract nose exhale inhale respiration (c) 20˚ D2 Protraction Inspiration * * (d) 5 s 200 ms Current Opinion in Neurobiology Co-occurrence of sniffing and whisking in rodents. (a) Photograph of a rat whisking at the exit of a tunnel. Image was obtained in the dark under near infrared illumination. (b) Sniff and whisk cycles are coordinated with nose and head movements. Adapted from Welker [2]. (c) Whisking occurs in phase with sniffing, but sniffing can occur without whisking; asterisks denote sniffing bouts without whisking. Overlapping traces in (d) show the framed area in (c). The motion of vibrissa D2 was monitored by high-speed videography (250 frames per second), and sniffing was recorded by means of a thermocouple implanted in the nasal cavity (unpublished data). generator (CPG) that controls breathing, for example, the are activated both bilaterally, and in a multiphasic man- Bo¨tzinger/pre-Bo¨tzinger complex and the parafacial ner, to generate the protraction/retraction cycle [7,8]. group [10,11]. Yet, a mechanism for generating rhythmic Alternatively, and on the basis of Welker’s description sniffing remains to be demonstrated. of the close phase relationship between sniffing and whisking [2], one might speculate that both rhythmic As with respiration, it has long been postulated that activities share a common neural circuitry. whisking is driven by a CPG located in the brainstem. This hypothesis is derived from the observation that The function of the vibrissae in sensation whisking persists after decortication [2,12], and that bilat- It is necessary to first consider the anatomical organization eral section of the infraorbital branch of the trigeminal and function of the vibrissa sensorimotor plant itself to nerve, that is, sensory denervation, has only little effect on understand the behavioral significance of whisking. Rats the generation, kinematics, and bilateral coordination of and mice are nocturnal animals with poor visual acuity. the normal whisking pattern [2,7,13]. Attempts to identify They have laterally placed eyes, which allows very little neurons that form the core of the whisking CPG have so overlap of the visual fields. Panoramic vision gives them a far yielded unconvincing results. Beyond the obvious wide field of view, which probably helps them detect participation of facial motoneurons as downstream com- predators but provides poor depth discrimination. At close mand neurons, the premotor whisking circuitry remains range they rely on sniffing and whisking to sense objects elusive. It has been proposed that facial motoneurons and move about, search for food and shelter, and interact themselves generate whisking in response to modulatory with conspecifics [15]. They are equipped with two sets of input from serotonergic pre-motoneurons [14]. Yet, this vibrissae (Figure 2); one set is the large macrovibrissae hypothesis does not explain the synchrony of motoneuron that form a matrix of approximately 25 motile sensors on discharges, nor how different pools of facial motoneurons each side of the face, while the other is a dense array of Current Opinion in Neurobiology 2011, 22:1–8 www.sciencedirect.com Please cite this article in press as: Descheˆnes M, et al. Sniffing and whisking in rodents, Curr Opin Neurobiol (2011), doi:10.1016/j.conb.2011.11.013 CONEUR-1013; NO. OF PAGES 8 Sniffing and whisking Descheˆ nes, Moore and Kleinfeld 3 Figure 2 (a) arc 2 (b) microvibrissae arc 2 macrovibrissae nose macrovibrissae * * microvibrissae (c) (d) Current Opinion in Neurobiology Rodents have two sets of vibrissae. (a) Vibrissa follicles on the mystacial pad and perioral region. (b) The follicles are mapped in a one-to-one manner in layer 4 of the primary somatosensory cortex. Note the presence of small-sized follicles, that is, microvibrissae, that are represented by smaller sized barrels in cortex. Asterisks indicate the transition point between macrovibrissae and microvibrissae and their representation in cortex. (c) Photograph of a rat whisking upon presentation of a new odor on the cotton swab in the lower part of the image (unpublished data). (d) Photograph of a rat sampling a coin
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