Collaborative Research: A Dynamic Atlas of the Cricket Cercal Sensory System

合作研究：板球尾部感觉系统的动态图谱

• 批准号: 0090966
• 负责人: Gwen Jacobs
• 金额: $ 24.13万
• 依托单位: Montana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-08-15 至 2005-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0090966&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Dynamic; Atlas; Cricket

A fundamental question in neuroscience is how natural sensory stimuli are encoded for information handling by the brain. Invertebrate animals often offer systems that are in some ways simpler than those of mammals, and including such features as identifiable single cells in networks of relatively few numbers. This collaborative project exploits a sensory system called the cercal system of the cricket, in which small appendages on the rear of the body contain fine hairs that are used to detect, identify and localize behaviorally relevant air current movements, such as those produced by a predator. The input from roughly 2000 receptor cells converges on 30 local interneurons and only 20 output interneurons that lead to behavior such as escape. Three collaborators at two institutions use computational and mathematical analyses of a database of anatomical and physiological measurements on the 'dynamic map' that does the central processing in the brain of the peripheral signals. The goals are to characterize the representation of dynamic sensory stimulus parameters at two processing stages within the mapped sensory system, and to examine the mechanisms that transform the representation at the interface between these two processing stages. Results will be important for our understanding of information representation in nervous systems, particularly in dynamic processing. The project also will enhance the independent career of a woman faculty member in mathematics, and students will receive multi-disciplinary, highly quantitative training related to biology, in two states that do not currently have high profiles in federally funded research.

神经科学的一个基本问题是如何编码自然感觉刺激以供大脑处理信息。 无脊椎动物通常提供在某些方面比哺乳动物更简单的系统，并且包括诸如在数量相对较少的网络中可识别的单细胞等特征。 这个合作项目利用了一种称为蟋蟀尾部系统的感觉系统，其中身体后部的小附属物含有细毛，用于检测、识别和定位与行为相关的气流运动，例如捕食者产生的气流运动。 大约 2000 个受体细胞的输入会聚在 30 个局部中间神经元上，只有 20 个输出中间神经元会导致逃跑等行为。 两个机构的三名合作者使用“动态地图”上的解剖和生理测量数据库进行计算和数学分析，该“动态地图”在大脑中对外围信号进行中央处理。 目标是表征映射的感觉系统内两个处理阶段的动态感觉刺激参数的表示，并检查在这两个处理阶段之间的界面处转换表示的机制。 结果对于我们理解神经系统中的信息表示非常重要，特别是在动态处理中。 该项目还将增强数学领域女教员的独立职业生涯，学生将在目前在联邦政府资助的研究中知名度不高的两个州接受与生物学相关的多学科、高度定量的培训。