Neuronal Control and Biomechanics of a Hydrodynamic Skeleton

流体动力骨骼的神经元控制和生物力学

• 批准号: 9511432
• 负责人: William Kristan
• 金额: $ 15.67万
• 依托单位: University of California-San Diego
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1995
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1995-09-01 至 1997-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9511432&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Neuronal; Control; Biomechanics; Hydrodynamic; Skeleton

IBN-9511432 William Kristan To move, soft-bodied animals must first contract muscles to make themselves stiff, then contract the same or other muscles to lengthen, shorten or bend. This temporary stiffness effectively serves as a "hydroskeleton" on which the animals move. The same kind of hydroskeletons are used by tubular organs such as tentacles on an octopus, the trunk of elephants, or our own tongues and intestines. The principles underlying the control of hydroskeletons is not well-understood, largely because the arrangement of the muscles is complex and because it is very difficult to obtain all the needed physiological and mechanical measurements from a single animal or organ. These studies will use the medicinal leech to study hydroskeletons because all the relevant properties of the nervous system and muscular system can be measured in this animal. This multidisciplinary group of scientists have constructed a model of the mechanics that produces reasonable estimates of some behaviors, such as shortening and crawling. Now they will measure dynamic properties of the muscles and add them to the biomechanical model, so that faster behaviors, such as swimming, can be explained. The completed model should serve as a more general description of hydroskeletons that can be used for a better understanding of tentacles, trunks, tongues and intestines.

IBN-9511432 William Kristan 软体动物要移动，必须先收缩肌肉使自己僵硬，然后收缩同一块或其他肌肉使自己伸长、缩短或弯曲。这种暂时的僵硬有效地充当了动物移动的“水骨骼”。同样的水骨骼也被管状器官所使用，比如章鱼的触角、大象的鼻子，或者我们自己的舌头和肠道。控制水骨骼的基本原理还没有得到很好的理解，主要是因为肌肉的排列很复杂，并且因为很难从单个动物或器官获得所有需要的生理和机械测量。这些研究将使用药用水蛭来研究水骨骼，因为神经系统和肌肉系统的所有相关特性都可以在这种动物中测量。这个多学科的科学家小组已经构建了一个力学模型，可以对某些行为进行合理的估计，例如缩短和爬行。现在，他们将测量肌肉的动态特性，并将其添加到生物力学模型中，以便解释更快的行为，如游泳。完成的模型应该作为一个更一般的描述水骨骼，可用于更好地了解触角，躯干，舌头和肠道。