Neural Circuitry for Polarized-Light Perception

尼古拉斯·施特劳斯菲尔德博士是一位极具天赋的科学家， 一直在收集大量关于组织的信息， 昆虫的大脑 他以前的工作集中在 神经解剖学和大脑的功能组织， 双翅目昆虫的胸神经系统，特别是 苍蝇 在他的新研究计划中他将利用一个红衣主教 节肢动物大脑的特征：即存在可管理的 许多具有特征形式的大神经细胞， 在一个物种的所有个体中容易识别， 可以明确地与特定的运动神经元池相关， 支配用于特定运动的确定的肌肉 功能 这项新研究的最终目标是 解决神经元的功能组织， 偏振光取向 为此，该项目 仅限于分析明确定义的 神经解剖学上可识别的感觉系统， 识别出运动神经元和肌肉。 生理学研究 是专门设计来测试前运动神经的活动 下行神经元对偏振光的反应 其他视觉和机械提示，如通常 遇到的。 这项研究将测试目前的假设 关于偏振光敏感网络。 这项工作是 重要的是，它试图从功能上详细说明一个完整的 从感觉输入到肌肉运动的神经元回路，一种回路 神经元的解剖结构已经非常完美 介绍了

Dr. Nicholas Strausfeld is an extremely gifted scientist who has been gathering a volume of information on the organization of the insect brain. His previous work has focused on the neuroanatomy and functional organization of the brain and thoracic nervous system of dipterous insects, in particular the blowfly. In his new research program he shall exploit a cardinal feature of arthropod brains: namely, the presence of a manageable number of large nerve cells with characteristic forms, which are readily identifiable in all individuals of a species and which can be unambiguously related to specific motor neuron pools innervating identified muscles used in a specified locomotor function. The ultimate goal of this new line of research is to resolve the functional organization of neurons that mediate polarized-light orientation. To this end the project is restricted to the analysis of clearly defined and neuroanatomically identifiable sensory systems leading to identified motor neurons and muscles. The physiological studies are specifically designed to test the activities of premotor descending neurons in response to polarized light in the context of other visual and mechanical cues, such as would normally be encountered. The research will test current hypotheses concerning polarized-light-sensitive networks. This work is important because it seeks to functionally detail a complete neuronal circuit from sensory input to muscle movement, a circuit in which the anatomy of the neurons has already been beautifully described.