OSCILLATORS OF THE LEECH HEARTBEAT NEURONAL NETWORK

动物有节奏的运动需要不同的肌肉群 积极与适当的相位关系。 例如以 游泳的七鳃鳗身体弯曲的横向波动 从头到尾 同样，水蛭也有一个后部， 心管收缩的前蠕动波。 在许多 动物控制这些运动活动的神经机制可以 被描述为分段振荡器的链，因为每个分段 可以单独产生节律活动。 我们研究了 调节水蛭心跳的神经网络 该系统 特别适合于细胞分析的起源 振荡神经活动，因为神经回路由 已经被生物病理学鉴定的神经元。目的 这一建议的目的是确定固有周期的依赖性 周期的节段振荡器上的内在电压门控电流和 利用计算机模拟来帮助理解 节段振荡器的协调。

Rhythmic motor activity in animals requires that different muscle groups be active with the appropriate phase relations. For example, in a swimming lamprey a traveling lateral wave of body curvature progresses from head to tail. Likewise, in the leech there is a posterior to anterior peristaltic wave of contraction of the heart tubes. In many animals the neural mechanism that controls these motor activities can be described as a chain of segmental oscillators because each segment can produce rhythmic activity in isolation. We have the studied the neuronal network that paces the heartbeat of the leech. This system is particularly amenable to a cellular analysis of the origin of oscillatory neural activity because the neural circuit consists of identified neurons that have been biophysically characterized. The aim of this proposal is to determine the dependence of the inherent cycle periods of segmental oscillators on intrinsic voltage-gated currents and to use computer simulations to help understand the intersegmental coordination of segmental oscillators.