Collaborative Research: Mechanisms and Functions of Nociceptive Sensitization in Dissimilar Molluscs

合作研究：不同软体动物伤害感受敏化的机制和功能

• 批准号: 1145478
• 负责人: Roger Hanlon
• 金额: $ 27万
• 依托单位: Marine Biological Laboratory
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-03-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1145478&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Mechanisms; Functions; Nociceptive

All animals, including humans, experience injury, and every species examined shows adaptive responses to help avoid injury or re-injury. Injury to humans causes pain, which can be long lasting (even permanent) and sometimes untreatable. Although much has been learned about other aspects of human biology through comparative studies of simpler animals, including selected invertebrates, systematic comparative studies of behavioral and neural responses to injury in invertebrates have been lacking. This project will compare behavioral and neural responses to peripheral injury in two invertebrates that, because of their giant neurons, have been sources of pioneering discoveries in neuroscience: the common Atlantic squid, Loligo, and a large marine snail, Aplysia. Both are molluscs, but they have very different life styles and cognitive capabilities. Hypotheses to be tested include: (1) In the peripheral sensory neurons of both species, injury-induced, long-lasting behavioral sensitization involves a similar long-term enhancement of responsiveness that resembles the effects reported in mammals, (2) these changes are induced by common chemical signals that also drive inflammatory pain in mammals, (3) the large-brained squid, but not small-brained snail display ongoing awareness of an injury, and (4) sensitization of defensive responses in the squid increases the chances of survival in a wounded state by decreasing the vulnerability to predatory attacks. The broader impacts of this research project will be the encouragement of the use of molluscs to explore the evolution of fundamental behavioral patterns involving core mechanisms that are widely conserved and may be important for human pain, and the education of future scientists (including undergraduates) interested in comparative and evolutionary approaches to behavioral neurobiology. The resulting scientific information will be published in scientific journals and disseminated to foster rational and humane treatment of molluscs and other invertebrates in research.

所有动物，包括人类，都会经历伤害，每一个物种都表现出适应性反应，以帮助避免受伤或再次受伤。对人类的伤害会导致疼痛，这种疼痛可能是持久的（甚至是永久的），有时是无法治疗的。虽然通过对简单动物（包括选定的无脊椎动物）的比较研究，人们对人类生物学的其他方面有了很多了解，但一直缺乏对无脊椎动物对损伤的行为和神经反应的系统比较研究。该项目将比较两种无脊椎动物对外周损伤的行为和神经反应，由于它们的巨大神经元，它们一直是神经科学中开创性发现的来源：常见的大西洋鱿鱼，Loligo和一种大型海洋蜗牛，Aaclasia。两者都是软体动物，但它们有着截然不同的生活方式和认知能力。待检验的假设包括：（1）在这两个物种的外周感觉神经元中，损伤诱导的持久行为敏化涉及类似于哺乳动物中报告的效应的类似的长期反应增强，（2）这些变化是由共同的化学信号诱导的，这些化学信号也驱动哺乳动物的炎症疼痛，（3）大脑鱿鱼，而不是小脑蜗牛显示持续的伤害意识，和（4）敏感的防御反应的鱿鱼增加了生存的机会，在受伤的状态，减少脆弱性掠夺性攻击。这个研究项目的更广泛的影响将是鼓励使用软体动物来探索基本行为模式的演变，这些行为模式涉及广泛保守的核心机制，可能对人类疼痛很重要，以及对行为神经生物学的比较和进化方法感兴趣的未来科学家（包括本科生）的教育。由此产生的科学信息将在科学期刊上发表并传播，以促进在研究中合理和人道地对待软体动物和其他无脊椎动物。