Neural Basis of Behavioral Arousal

描述（由申请人提供）：所有生物体都需要对新的刺激做出快速反应，而不会不断从一种行为转变为另一种行为。实现这一目标的一个重要手段是诱导一种特定刺激的唤醒状态，这种状态在引起唤醒的刺激不再存在之后的一段时间内被记住。觉醒状态增加了某些行为发生的概率，降低了对抗行为发生的概率。本申请中提出的研究的长期目标是描述支持唤醒持续性的神经机制。具体来说，我们将测试一个假设，假定高阶调制神经元的行动负责唤醒的记忆方面。我们建议研究觉醒的背景下，摄食和排泄喂养的Aesthesia。我们假设，在食物诱导的唤醒状态被诱导之前，喂食CPG处于一种不致力于产生摄食或排泄反应的状态。相反，CPG生成的响应沿着连续体，即，可以产生具有摄取和排泄特征的中间应答。随着觉醒的发展，我们提出，喂养CPG的状态被改变的方式，增加产生摄食反应的概率，并降低产生排泄反应的概率。我们推测，调节性的多巴胺能和肽能神经元激活的细胞机制，是重要的持久性，这种改变的状态下的CPG。在拟议的工作中，我们将采取多学科方法，即，我们将使用电生理学，形态学和生物化学技术来验证我们的假设。实验将在完整、半完整和离体神经系统制备物中进行。当对新刺激快速反应的需要和坚持一种行为的需要之间的平衡被扰乱时，可能出现严重的行为病理（例如，强迫症、成人注意力缺陷障碍和抑郁症）。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): All organisms need to respond rapidly to new stimuli without being continuously shifted from one behavior to another. An important means of achieving this goal is to induce a stimulus-specific arousal state that is remembered for some time after the stimulus that elicits the arousal is no longer present. The arousal state increases the probability of occurrence of some behaviors and decreases the probability of occurrence of antagonistic behaviors. The long-range goal of the research proposed in this application is to characterize the neural mechanisms that support the persistence of arousal. Specifically we will test a hypothesis that postulates that actions of higher order modulatory neurons are responsible for mnemonic aspects of arousal. We propose to study arousal in the context of ingestive and egestive feeding in Aplysia. We hypothesize that before the state of food-induced arousal is induced, the feeding CPG is in a state that is not dedicated to generating either ingestive or egestive responses. Instead the CPG generates responses that fall along a continuum, i.e., intermediate responses that have both ingestive and egestive characteristics can be generated. As arousal develops we propose that the state of the feeding CPG is altered in a manner that increases the probability of generating ingestive responses and decreases the probability of generating egestive responses. We hypothesize that modulatory serotonergic and peptidergic neurons activate cellular mechanisms that are important for the persistence of such alterations in the state of the CPG. In proposed work we will take a multidisciplinary approach, i.e., we will use electrophysiological, morphological and biochemical techniques to test our hypotheses. Experiments will be conducted in intact, semi-intact and isolated nervous system preparations. When the balance between the need to respond rapidly to new stimuli and the need to persist with one behavior is perturbed, serious behavioral pathologies may emerge (e.g., obsessive compulsive disorders, adult attention deficit disorders, and depression).