Neural correlates of unpredictability in behavioral patterns of wild-type and R6/2 mice

Commun Integr Biol. 2012 May 1;5(3):259-61. doi: 10.4161/cib.19782.

Abstract

This paper expands on recent findings that link dynamic patterns of striatal activity with patterns of movement and exploration in wild-type and transgenic mice (R6/2) that model Huntington disease (HD), a fatally inherited neurological condition. Here, with HD as a backdrop, we further develop the concept of entropy conservation in brain and behavior. In particular, we propose that entropy conservation could serve as a rule that guides the process of redistributing brain activity dynamics in order to alter behavior, allowing the adaptation to an ever-changing external environment. This concept is further linked to recent neuroimaging studies in human aging, building a new bridge between our recent findings of entropy conservation and the extant literature.

Keywords: Huntington disease; aging; behavioral neuroscience; entropy; neuroimaging; striatum.