Bi-Modal Chemical and Mechanical Signal Detection

嗅觉和味觉是检测环境中化学物质的感官，但它们不能孤立地起作用。与空气相比，在粘度较高的水生环境中，化学“羽状物”随水流携带，并在长距离上具有复杂的时空结构。水中的动物也会受到水流的流体动力刺激，与平缓漂流的水中相同的化学感觉信号相比，来自快速水流的触觉刺激是如何影响化学感觉输入的，这在很大程度上是未知的。本项目采用多学科方法，结合流体力学、超微结构解剖学和电生理学对甲壳类动物作为无脊椎动物化学感觉系统的模型进行研究。附属物（如天线）中感觉细胞的形态类型将被识别，并测试其对化学感觉信号和机械感觉刺激组合的生理敏感性。研究结果将有助于确定多模态信号的外周整合是如何发生的，这将超越化学感觉科学对一般感觉神经科学的重要性，并将在机器人感觉设备的技术开发中具有潜在的应用。

IBN: 9723542 PI: ATEMA Smell and taste are senses that detect chemicals in the environment, but they do not work in isolation. In the aquatic environment with high viscosity compared to air, chemical "plumes" are carried in currents and can have complex spatial and temporal structure over long distances. Animals in the water are subject to hydrodynamic stimulation by water currents as well, and it is largely unknown how the tactile stimulation from a swift current may affect the chemosensory input, compared to the same chemosensory signal in gently drifting water. This project uses a multidisciplinary approach incorporating hydrodynamics, ultrastructural anatomy and electrophysiology on a crustacean as a model invertebrate chemosensory system. Morphological types of sensory cells in the appendages such as the antenna will be identified, and tested for physiological sensitivity to combinations of chemosensory signals and mechanosensory stimuli. Results will help determine how peripheral integration of multimodal signals might occur, will be important beyond chemosensory science to sensory neuroscience in general, and will have potential applications for technological development of robotic sensory devices.