Optical analysis of distributing system in the carviovascular/pulmonary center

本研究的目的是表征分布的心血管/肺系统的综合特性，而不是单个细胞的特性。我们将特别关注与组成神经元之间的相互作用有关的那些性质。最适合进行这些研究的技术是使用电压敏感染料的多位点光学记录，它可以提供整个心血管/肺系统神经元活动的高分辨率（时间和空间）视图。拟议的实验利用了我们小组实验室中使用的特殊专业知识、设施和不同的准备工作，以确定网络整合神经元信息的基本原则。“分布式处理”已被用来标记几种现象。首先，它可以指心血管/肺系统的一个或多个区域中的大量神经元参与产生每种行为的情况。其次，它可能指的是单个神经元是多功能的情况：每个细胞都参与识别一种以上的感觉输入或产生一种以上的行为输出。第三，分布式处理是指神经元之间的连接的突触强度低，并且在确定每个单独神经元的输出时评估许多兴奋性和抑制性输入中的活动的情况。本研究中的实验考察了分布式处理的所有三个方面。

The purpose of this study is to characterize the integrative properties of the cardiovascular/pulmonary systems that are distributed, rather than those which are properties of individual cells. We will specifically focus on those properties which relate to interactions among the component neurons. The technology best suited for carrying out these studies is multiple-site optical recording using voltage-sensitive dyes, which can provide high resolution(temporal and spatial)views of neuronal activity throughout cardiovascular/pulmonary systems. The proposed experiments take advantage of the special expertise, facilities, and different preparations used in the laboratories of our group in order to identity basic principles by which networks integrate neuronal information. "Distributed processing" has been used to label several phenomena. First, it can refer to instances where large numbers of neurons in one or several regions of cardiovascular/pulmonary systems are involved in generating each behavior. Second, it may refer to situations where individual neurons are multifunctional : each cell is involved in the discrimination of more than one sensory input or the generation of more than one behavioral output. Third, distributed processing refers to situations where synaptic strength of the connections between neurons are low and activity in many excitory and inhibitory inputs are evaluated in determining the output of each individual neuron. The experiments in this study examined all three aspects of the distributed processing.