Spatial transcriptome of the mouse brain with cognitive flexibility

This analysis is a part of study to understand the microbiome-gut-brain axis for cognitive flexibility. The aim of this analysis is to identify the brain regions and their activities stimulated by the acquirement of cognitive flexibility in mice using spatial transcriptomics. Mice were trained by a cognitive flexibility assessment task consisting of a behavioral sequencing task with spatial learning and serial reversal learning in touch screen operant system. Control were age-matched mice without training. Prefrontal cortex and hippocampus are target area of this analysis. The difference of active regions and their gene expression pattern in the brain between trained mouse and control mouse may be an important factors to understand the cognitive flexibility-related microbiome-gut-brain axis.