Neuromuscular control of the human tongue

描述(申请人提供)：舌头是一个复杂的肌肉器官，对吞咽、呼吸、说话和咀嚼等口腔运动行为至关重要。舌头自主运动的惊人复杂性和精确度取决于内在(舌体内的起源和插入)和外在(附着在骨骼上并插入舌根)舌肌的协调。直到最近，几乎所有关于语言、呼吸或吞咽的舌肌功能的研究都集中在对整个肌肉肌电(EMG)活动的研究上。最近，我们将健康受试者与呼吸相关的舌肌和运动单位活动描述为睡眠/清醒和缓慢意志运动的功能。这项工作的结果提供了对语言运动功能的新见解，并为开始旨在确定在更复杂的意志行为中舌肌是如何控制的研究提供了一个平台。目前的应用程序按主题建立在PI以前的工作基础上，但在纳入语音制作过程的关键要素方面与以前的调查有所不同。具体地说，我们建议研究舌肌和运动单位的活动，以及这些活动是否可能受到呼吸、发声(喉)和/或喉上(口-关节)子系统的输入的调节。了解肌肉和MU的活动作为这些影响的函数分别并在连续叠加时，是理解舌部肌肉和运动单位的活动如何在更复杂的意志行为中调节的合乎逻辑的第一步，即人类的言语产生。 与公共健康相关：人类的舌头可能是所有运动系统中最复杂、最具挑战性和最不为人所知的之一。这项申请概述了一项计划，以确定中枢神经系统控制舌头运动以进行语音的基本过程。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The tongue is a complex muscular organ that is critical for oro-motor behaviors such as swallowing, breathing, speaking and chewing. The astonishing complexity and precision of the voluntary movements performed by the tongue depend upon the coordination of intrinsic (origin and insertion within the body of the tongue) and extrinsic (attached to bone and inserted into the base of tongue) tongue muscles. Until recently, almost all studies of lingual muscle function whether in speech, respiration or deglutition have concerned themselves with the study of whole muscle electromyographic (EMG) activities. Recently, we characterized respiratory-related tongue muscle and motor unit activities in healthy human subjects as a function of sleep/wake and in slow volitional movements. The results of this work provided de novo insights into lingual motor function and a platform from which to begin studies aimed at identifying how tongue muscles are controlled in more complex volitional behaviors. The current application builds thematically on previous work by the PI and yet departs from previous investigations in incorporating critical elements of the speech production process. Specifically, we propose to examine tongue muscle and motor unit activities and the potential for these activities to be modulated by inputs arising in the respiratory, phonatory (laryngeal) and/or supralaryngeal (oral- articulatory) subsystems. Understanding muscle and MU activities as a function of these influences separately and when successively overlaid is a logical first-step toward understanding how tongue muscle and motor unit activities are modulated in the more complex volitional behavior that is human speech production. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The human tongue is perhaps one of the most complex, challenging, and least understood of all motor systems. This application outlines a plan to identify the fundamental processes by which the central nervous system controls tongue movement for speech.