Electrical Sensitivity of Ampullae of Lorenzini

有一个感官系统还没有得到很多研究，那就是电感受器。电感受器是一些动物，尤其是鲨鱼和一些电鱼，在水环境中探测到极其微小的电信号的能力。这种感觉在寻找食物、特定物种的交流和导航中很重要。受体细胞对微小的电信号具有非凡的敏感性，其机制尚不清楚。该项目使用电生理和光学记录技术来研究电感受器细胞中细胞膜上的离子电流通道是如何被激活的，并使用数学建模技术来对这些生物物理特性进行可测试的预测。结果将对鱼类侧线器官和脊椎动物内耳中相关类型的细胞如何工作产生影响。了解这些细胞的高灵敏度将有助于理解其他感觉系统，并且可能与弱电场对生物组织的影响有关。

One sensory system that has not received much study is electroreception, the capability of some animals, particularly sharks and some electric fish, to detect extremely tiny electrical signals in the watery environment. This sense can be important in finding food, in species-specific communication, and in navigation. The receptor cells have extraordinary sensitivity to minuscule electrical signals, by mechanisms that have not yet been clarified. This project uses electrophysiological and optical recording techniques to examine how the ionic current channels across the cell membrane are activated in electroreceptor cells, and mathematical modeling techniques to make testable predictions about these biophysical properties. Results will have impact on how cells of a related type work in the lateral line organs of fish, and in the vertebrate inner ear. Understanding the high sensitivity of these cells will be useful in understanding other sensory systems in general, and perhaps relevant to claims about effects of weak electrical fields on biological tissue in general.