Daq ni 6363

Behavioral training was conducted in a custom-designed double-walled box covered with polyurethane foam for sound attenuation. Mice were head-fixed and placed in a polypropylene tube to limit movement (Figure 1a). Behavioral training and testing were implemented with custom software written in MATLAB (MathWorks). The sound signal generated by the computer is fed forward to analog-digital multifunction card (DAQ NI 6363, National Instruments, Austin, TX, USA), amplified (SA1, Tucker-Davis Technologies, FL, USA), and sent to the speaker (MF1, Tucker-Davis Technologies) located 20 cm in front of the mice. Licking signals were detected using a photoelectric switch mounted on either side of the lick spout, digitized by an analog-digital multifunction card (DAQ NI 6363, National Instruments), and saved in the computer. A small overhead camera with a microphone allowed audiovisual observation by the experimenter.

Experiments were conducted in a double-walled, sound-attenuating room. For optogenetic suppression of the AC during the behavioral task, a green laser (532 nm, 10 mW) was delivered to the AC of both hemispheres through the optic fibers. A splitting optical patch cable was used to connect the two chronically implanted optical fibers (through a ceramic sleeve) to the laser source (R-LG532-200-A5, RWD, Shenzhen, China). Laser power was controlled by analog inputs sent from the behavior computer through an analog-digital multifunction card (DAQ NI 6363, National Instruments). Laser power at the end of an external fiber was measured with a laser power meter (VLP-2000, RWD).
To verify the effectiveness of the optogenetic method, optetrodes were implanted in AC for simultaneous AC photo-inactivation and recording. The assembly of optetrode was described above. The tip of the tetrode array was extended ~300 μm from the tip of the optical fiber. Light power at the tip of the optical fiber was 10 mW.