Neural Control of a Context-Dependent Molluscan Feeding Muscle

上下文相关的软体动物进食肌肉的神经控制

• 批准号: 9974394
• 负责人: Hillel Chiel
• 金额: $ 37.14万
• 依托单位: Case Western Reserve University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1999
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1999-09-15 至 2002-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9974394&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Neural; Control; Context; Dependent; Molluscan

How does the nervous system control muscles whose function changes with their mechanical context? To answer this question, Dr. Chiel is studying muscles in an animal, the marine mollusk Aplysia californica, whose biomechanics and neural control are both tractable to experimentalanalysis. To test the hypothesis that the function of the muscles I1/ I3 during feeding are dependent on their mechanical context, he will study the changing position of I1/ I3 relative to other muscles in the feeding apparatus in intact, feeding animals using MRI, as well as constructing a detailed kinematic model. Using neurophysiological techniques, he will alsodetermine whether the nervous system of the animal exploits the context-dependent properties of the I1/I3 muscles to generate different movements during biting as opposed to swallowing.The proposed research is likely to suggest principles that will clarify the control of context-dependent muscles in higher vertebrates as well as in invertebrates. These studies will lead to the development of novel MRI imaging techniques that may be applied to many other freelymoving biological structures. Finally, these studies suggest a richer view of motor control, in which motor patterns are not purely driven by activity of the nervous system, but are actively constructed from the dynamics of the body as well as the dynamics of the nervous system.

神经系统是如何控制那些随着机械环境而改变功能的肌肉的？为了回答这个问题，切尔博士正在研究一种动物的肌肉，这种动物是加利福尼亚海软体动物，它的生物力学和神经控制都易于实验分析。为了验证I1/ I3肌肉在喂食过程中的功能取决于其机械环境的假设，他将使用MRI研究I1/ I3相对于喂食器中其他肌肉的位置变化，并构建详细的运动学模型。利用神经生理学技术，他还将确定动物的神经系统是否利用I1/I3肌肉的环境依赖特性，在咬和吞咽过程中产生不同的运动。拟议的研究可能会提出一些原则，以澄清高等脊椎动物和无脊椎动物中环境依赖肌肉的控制。这些研究将导致新的MRI成像技术的发展，这些技术可能应用于许多其他自由移动的生物结构。最后，这些研究提出了运动控制的更丰富的观点，其中运动模式不是纯粹由神经系统的活动驱动，而是积极地从身体的动力学以及神经系统的动力学中构建。