AMPLITUDE PATTERN PROCESSING BY THE LATERAL LINE SYSTEM

脊髓髓核解剖结构的惊人相似之处 鱼和脊椎动物的侧线和电感觉系统 听觉系统表明，可能有一些基本原则， 组织和细胞间的相互作用 系统. 这项研究的长期目标是增加我们的 了解本组织在一个 比较和演变背景，特别是关于如何 刺激幅度的空间映射模式通过以下步骤处理 脊椎动物毛细胞系统中的脑干髓核。 以来 鱼类侧线系统由毛细胞空间排列组成 受体，表面上位于他的身体的鱼，它是理想的 适用于空间模式编码的研究。 一系列 将进行解剖学、行为学和生理学实验 在两种硬骨鱼上 解剖技术将用于 确定侧线的细胞结构和组织 髓核和在何种程度上这一核是类似于 脑干电感觉和听觉核团。 行为技术 将被用来测量鱼类使用侧线的能力 用于检测由移动产生的不同空间流模式的系统 静止的物体和水流中的静止物体。 这些刺激近似于刺激的种类，例如移动的猎物或 溪流中的障碍物，自然会遇到鱼在他们的 环境 神经生理学技术将用于测量 单个初级传入纤维和次级延髓纤维对 同样的刺激。 来自外周纤维的响应特性将是 与髓纤维的比较，以确定 发生在髓核中。 最后，行为测量 能力将与生理测量的反应进行比较， 确定空间复杂信号如何编码的属性， 在神经系统的不同层次上进行处理。

Striking parallels in the anatomical organization of medullary nuclei in the lateral line and electrosensory system of fish and in the vertebrate auditory systems suggest that there may be some fundamental principles of organization and cellular interactions that apply to all three systems. The long term objective of this research is to increase our understanding of the functional significance of this organization in a comparative and evolutionary context, particularly with regard to how spatially-mapped patterns of stimulus amplitude are processed by brainstem medullary nuclei in vertebrate hair cell systems. Since the lateral line system of fish consists of a spatial array of hair cell receptors, superficially located ont he body of the fish, it is ideally suited for investigations on the encoding of spatial patterns. A series of anatomical, behavioral and physiological experiments will be conducted on two teleost fish species. Anatomical techniques will be used to determine the cytoarchitecture and organization of the lateral line medullary nucleus and the extent to which this nucleus is similar to electrosensory and auditory brainstem nucleii. Behavioral techniques will be used to measure the ability of fish to use their lateral line system to detect different spatial flow patterns created by moving objects in stagnant water and by stationary objects in water currents. These stimuli approximate the kinds of stimuli, such as moving prey or obstacles in a stream, naturally encountered by fish in their environment. Neurophysiological techniques will be used to measure the responses of single primary afferent and secondary medullary fibers to the same stimuli. Response properties from peripheral fibers will be compared to those of medullary fibers to determine what transformations are occurring in the medullary nucleus. Finally, behaviorally measured abilities will be compared to physiologically-measured response properties to determine how spatially complex signals are encoded and processed at different levels of the nervous system.