An automated platform for high-throughput mouse behavior and physiology with voluntary head-fixation.

Recording neural activity during animal behavior is a cornerstone of modern brain research. However, integration of cutting-edge technologies for neural circuit analysis with complex behavioral measurements poses a severe experimental bottleneck for researchers. Critical problems include a lack of standardization for psychometric and neurometric integration, and lack of tools that can generate large, sharable data sets for the research community in a time and cost effective way. Here, we introduce a novel mouse behavioral learning platform featuring voluntary head fixation and automated high-throughput data collection for integrating complex behavioral assays with virtually any physiological device. We provide experimental validation by demonstrating behavioral training of mice in visual discrimination and auditory detection tasks. To examine facile integration with physiology systems, we coupled the platform to a two-photon microscope for imaging of cortical networks at single-cell resolution. Our behavioral learning and recording platform is a prototype for the next generation of mouse cognitive studies.

PTEN controls junction lengthening and stability during cell rearrangement in epithelial tissue.

Planar cell rearrangements control epithelial tissue morphogenesis and cellular pattern formation. They lead to the formation of new junctions whose length and stability determine the cellular pattern of tissues. Here, we show that during Drosophila wing development the loss of the tumor suppressor PTEN disrupts cell rearrangements by preventing the lengthening of newly formed junctions that become unstable and keep on rearranging. We demonstrate that the failure to lengthen and to stabilize is caused by the lack of a decrease of Myosin II and Rho-kinase concentration at the newly formed junctions. This defect results in a heterogeneous cortical contractility at cell junctions that disrupts regular hexagonal pattern formation. By identifying PTEN as a specific regulator of junction lengthening and stability, our results uncover how a homogenous distribution of cortical contractility along the cell cortex is restored during cell rearrangement to control the formation of epithelial cellular pattern.