AMPLITUDE PATTERN PROCESSING BY THE LATERAL LINE SYSTEM

延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系统 听觉系统表明，可能有一些基本原则 适用于所有这三个方面的组织和细胞交互 系统。这项研究的长期目标是增加我们的 了解本组织在 比较和演变的背景，特别是关于如何 通过以下方式处理刺激幅度的空间映射模式 脊椎动物毛细胞系统中的脑干延髓核。自.以来 鱼的侧线系统由毛细胞的空间阵列组成 受体，表面上位于鱼的身体上，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。解剖学技术将被用于 确定侧线的细胞结构和组织 延髓核以及该核类似于 电感觉和听觉脑干核团。行为技术 将被用来衡量鱼利用其侧线的能力 用于检测由移动创建的不同空间流动模式的系统 死水中的物体和水流中的静止物体。 这些刺激物近似于刺激物的种类，例如移动的猎物或 溪流中的障碍物，自然会被鱼在其 环境。将使用神经生理学技术来测量 单个初级传入纤维和次级延髓纤维对 同样的刺激。来自外围光纤的响应属性将是 与髓纤维进行比较，以确定哪些转化 发生在延髓核中。最后，行为测量 能力将与生理测量的反应进行比较。 属性来确定空间复杂信号的编码方式和 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.