SKIN BIOMECHANICS AND MECHANORECEPTOR RESPONSE

描述：(改编自申请人的摘要) 这个项目的目的是为了科学地理解 人类触觉的起源和机制。尤其是， 主要关注的是物体的形状、柔软度和表面纹理 灵长类指尖皮肤上的凹陷、抚摸或振动被编码 通过机械感受器的种群。对于这些刺激，一个定量的 了解什么时空载荷施加在皮肤上，如何 它们通过皮肤传递，哪些机械信号是 由每种空间分布的机械感受器传递 人口是要发展的。建议的主要组成部分和 研究内容包括：(1)利用一种新型声学成像技术采集生物力学数据 系统和已经开发的高精度触觉刺激器 在过去的一年里，(2)独特的二维和三维计算 灵长类指尖的模型，以及(3)线性和 非线性系统辨识技术，以帮助发展一种 触觉编码。 这项建议的具体目标是：(1)获得高分辨率 灵长类指垫皮肤的解剖和应变图像 超声背向散射显微镜(UBM)，(2)获得动态指垫 使用触觉刺激器的阻抗数据，(3)使用来自 改进高分辨率计算模式的实验研究 指垫并执行有限元模拟，包括接触 变化动态下的柔软、纹理和凹面刚体对象 条件，以及(4)使用来自实验和 计算机模拟以开发触觉编码的系统理论。在… 项目的每个阶段，实验数据，计算模型 模拟，这一理论将互为补充。 这项研究的好处包括分离了 组织力学来自周围神经反应中的受体动力学， 以及最终帮助分离外围设备的角色 和躯体感觉信息处理的中枢机制。一 从临床角度来看，长期受益的例子将是 为评价触觉敏感性设计更好的测试的能力 正常和受损的手以帮助诊断、治疗和 康复。

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted From The Applicant's Abstract) The goal of this project is to gain a scientific understanding of the origins and the mechanisms of human tactile sense. In particular, the major focus is on how the shape, softness and surface texture of objects indented, stroked or vibrated on the primate fingertip skin are encoded by populations of mechanoreceptors. For these stimuli, a quantitative understanding of what spatio-temporal loads are imposed on the skin, how they are transmitted through the skin, and which mechanical signals are transduced by each type of spatially distributed mechanoreceptor populations is to be developed. The major components and of the proposed study are (1) biomechanical data gathered using a novel acoustic imaging system and a high precision tactile stimulator that have been developed over the past year, (2) unique 2- and 3- dimensional computational models of the primate fingertip, and (3) application of linear and nonlinear system identification techniques to help develop a theory of tactile coding. The specific aims of this proposal are (1) to obtain high resolution anatomical and strain images of the primate fingerpad skin using Ultrasound Backscatter Microscopy (UBM), (2) to obtain dynamic fingerpad impedance data using the Tactile Stimulator, (3) to use the data from experiments to improve high resolution computational models of the fingerpad and perform finite element simulations involving contact with soft, textured and concave rigid objects under varying dynamic conditions, and (4) to use the results from both experiments and computer simulations to develop a systems theory of tactile coding. At each stage of the project, the experimental data, computational model simulations, and the theory will aid one another. The benefits of this research include the separation of the role of tissue mechanics from receptor dynamics in peripheral neural response, as well as eventually aiding the separation of the roles of peripheral and central mechanisms in somatosensory information processing. One example of a long term benefit from a clinical standpoint will be the ability to design better tests for the evaluation of tactile sensibility of normal and impaired hands to aid diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.