A Neural Interface for Coordinating Speech and Breathing

描述（由申请人提供）：许多常见言语和语言障碍的神经学基础仍然难以捉摸，很大程度上是因为对大脑中如何产生发声运动模式知之甚少。其中一个需要解决的关键问题是语言模式是如何与呼吸模式无缝地交织在一起的。在大脑中，语言和呼吸在哪里以及如何相互作用仍然未知。呼吸模式必须被改变，以适应说话或唱歌的人所使用的高度可变的语言模式，然而，语言的暂时流动自然受到有规律呼吸的需要的限制。这一过程揭示了一个复杂的神经基质的存在，该基质利用从肺和喉体感反馈获得的当前信息，调节声音运动命令的下行流进入中央呼吸节律中心。虽然人类的语言是独特的复杂，回声定位蝙蝠在声音呼吸动力学的背景下比较有利。回声定位行为依赖于一套精确但高度动态的不同呼吸模式，这些模式可以在实验室中通过计算机生成的听觉刺激选择性地唤起。该应用程序将结合体内电生理方法和计算机生成的听觉刺激来研究臂旁核外侧区域新发现的神经元亚型的作用，该亚型对发声相关的呼吸模式的正常变化至关重要。据推测，这些发声-呼吸整合神经元负责在呼吸节奏中产生相移以适应发声。如果是这样，这些神经元将代表发声运动通路和调节呼吸节律的神经回路之间的重要接口。臂旁核是脊椎动物大脑中一个高度保守的区域，对呼吸模式有着深远的影响，被认为是哺乳动物发声运动通路的重要组成部分。任何病理性或发育性的发声-呼吸整合机制的破坏都会不可避免地降低正常的言语流。因此，对大脑中如何以及在哪里实现这一功能的更彻底的了解，可能会揭示一些人类语言障碍的神经学基础，如口吃、构音障碍和失用症。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The neurological basis of many common speech and language disorders remains elusive, largely because very little is known about how vocal motor patterns are generated in the brain. One of the key questions yet to be addressed is how speech patterns come to be seamlessly interweaved with breathing patterns. Where and how in the brain speech and breathing interact remains unknown. Breathing patterns must be altered to accommodate the highly variable speech patterns utilized by a speaking or singing human, yet the temporal flow of speech is naturally constrained by the need to breath regularly. This process betrays the presence of a complex neural substrate that regulates the descending flow of vocal motor commands into the central respiratory rhythm centers using current information obtained from pulmonary and laryngeal somatosensory feedback. Although human speech is uniquely complex, echolocating bats compare favorably within the context of vocal-respiratory dynamics. Echolocation behavior relies upon a precise, yet highly dynamic set of distinct respiratory modes which can be selectively evoked in the lab by computer-generated auditory stimuli. This application will combine in vivo electrophysiological methods with computer-generated auditory stimuli to investigate the role of a newly discovered neuronal subtype in the lateral region of the parabrachial nucleus that appears essential for the normal changes in breathing patterns associated with vocalizing. It is hypothesized that these vocal-respiratory integration neurons are responsible for creating phase-shifts in breathing rhythms to accommodate vocalizing. If so, these neurons would represent an important interface between the vocal motor pathway and the neural circuitry regulating respiratory rhythms. The parabrachial nucleus is a highly conserved region of the vertebrate brain known to possess profound influences over breathing patterns, and is considered an essential component of the vocal motor pathway in mammals. Any pathological or developmental disruption of the vocal-respiratory integration mechanisms would unavoidably degrade the normal flow of speech. Thus, a more thorough understanding of how and where in the brain this is achieved could reveal the neurological basis of some human speech disorders, such as stuttering, disarthria and apraxia.