Functional Organization of a Continuously Growing Compound Nose

这个项目是为了了解神经系统是如何组织起来的，以使动物能够感知它们的气味世界并做出适当的反应。这项工作中使用的动物模型是带刺龙虾，系统是它的化学感觉系统--嗅觉器官，称为触角或鼻子)。刺龙虾是理想的动物模型，因为它的嗅觉非常发达，已经在许多层面上得到了很好的研究，从而为我们提供了一个智力框架，从这个框架出发，我们可以提出关于感觉加工的更高层次的问题。要了解这个系统的功能组织，不仅需要了解成年龙虾的组织模式，还需要了解在生长和发育过程中这种模式是如何建立和保持的。因此，我们项目的第一个主要目标是比较成年动物嗅觉器官几个不同组成部分的中枢联系和行为作用--每条通路在嗅觉辨别和定向任务中扮演什么角色，以及这些角色与它们的外周和中枢神经组织是如何关联的。第二个主要目的是了解这个嗅觉器官是如何在动物一生中维持其功能组织的，即使嗅觉细胞有一个连续的出生、成熟和死亡的过程。这一目标将通过细胞、分子和生理学的发育方法来实现。这些研究将有助于理解这种化学感觉系统的动态性质，以及控制嗅觉处理的发育因素。最后，它将导致神经解决方案的基本问题的感觉处理的比较观点。

This project is to understand how nervous systems are organized to allow animals to perceive their odor worlds and to respond appropriately. The animal model to be used in this work is the spiny lobster, and the system is its chemosensory system -- the olfactory organ, called the 'antennule' or 'nose'). The spiny lobster is ideal as an animal model because its sense of smell is very well developed and has been well studied at many levels, thus providing us with an intellectual framework from which to ask higher-order questions about sensory processing.To understand the functional organization of this system, it is necessary to understand not only the adult pattern of organization, but also how during growth and development this pattern is established and maintained. So, the first major aim of our project is to compare the central connections and behavioral roles of the several distinct components of the olfactory organ of adult animals - what is the role of each pathway in olfactory discrimination and orientation tasks, and how are these roles related to their peripheral and central neural organization. Behavioral and anatomical techniques will be used to answer this question.The second major aim is to understand how this olfactory organ maintains its functional organization throughout the animal's life, even while there is a continuous process of birth, maturation, and death of olfactory cells. This aim will be answered with cellular, molecular, and physiological approaches to development. These studies will generate an understanding of the dynamic nature of this chemosensory system and of the developmental factors that control olfactory processing. In the end, it will lead to a comparative view of neural solutions to fundamental problems of sensory processing.