MaqFACS: Measuring expressive movement in monkeys

描述(申请人提供)：在开发用于理解面部情感障碍的动物模型时，研究人员必须描述缺陷的运动成分，包括情绪表达缺陷、各种面瘫模式和特定的言语障碍。到目前为止，还没有一种方法来量化猴子的这些运动缺陷，更不用说可以将这些缺陷与帕金森氏症、自闭症、抑郁症或其他情感障碍等人类神经疾病的特征进行比较的方法了。然而，这样的程序是关键的，不仅对于记录赤字的严重程度，而且对于量化治疗后的改善。该项目将开发一种严格、客观和标准化的工具来量化恒河猴的面部运动，恒河猴是最广泛用作人类生物行为、神经生物学和情感障碍模型的物种。这种测量工具直接基于人类面部动作编码系统(FACS)，这是一个基于解剖学的系统，用于根据潜在肌肉系统的动作来量化面部运动。因此，我们提出了实现这些目标的三个具体目标。首先，我们将使用现代解剖技术来验证恒河猴面部肌肉的位置和组织。其次，我们将客观地鉴定通过肌肉内电刺激刺激麻醉猴子的每一块面部肌肉所产生的面部外观变化，然后记录由此产生的面部运动。第三，一旦这些基本组件被记录下来，我们将建立一个数字系统，使用FACS标准和术语来描述猕猴面部的每个单独组件的运动，即运动图。最后，我们将使用现有的恒河猴自发行为的视频记录来确定每个动作的典型强度。这些结果将被打包成手册形式，并以不同强度完成每个运动的照片记录，以便分发给神经科学和公共卫生相关领域的研究人员，他们使用临床疾病的动物模型进行工作。该系统(MaqFACS)不仅提供恒河猴面部表情谱系的开创性数据，使那些对自然行为学和沟通感兴趣的人受益，还将为描述面部运动缺陷、量化其严重程度和改善范围提供必要的标准化，在将猴子用作人类情感及相关疾病模型的研究中。研究人员使用猴子来模拟包括帕金森氏症和抑郁症在内的人类情感和相关疾病的各个方面，目前还没有标准的方法来量化面部运动缺陷，尽管这种缺陷在许多人类疾病的表型中都很突出。该项目旨在开发一个基于解剖学的系统来测量恒河猴的面部运动，恒河猴是人类情感障碍的主要灵长类动物模型，是客观、标准化的，直接与临床研究中用于量化人类面部运动的方法(Ekman，Friesen&Hagar，2002)相比较。该系统的开发对于研究人员量化面部运动缺陷的严重程度和评估临床治疗后的改善至关重要。最终，这个系统将提高我们模拟和治疗人类情感性疾病的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): In developing animal models for understanding affective disorders of the face, including emotional expression deficits, various modes of facial paralysis, and specific speech disorders, researchers must describe the motor-component of the deficit. To date there is no methodology for quantifying these movement deficits in a monkey, not to mention a means with which these deficits may be compared to those that characterize neurological conditions in humans, such as Parkinson's disease, autism, depression or other affective disorders. Such a procedure, however, is critical, not only for documenting the severity of the deficit, but for quantifying resulting improvements after treatment. This project will develop a rigorous, objective and standardized tool for quantifying facial movement in the rhesus monkey, the species used most widely as a model for human biobehavioral, neurobiological, and affective disorders. This measurement tool is based directly on the human Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which is an anatomically-based system for quantifying facial movement according to the action of the underlying musculature. Therefore, we propose three specific aims to meet these goals. First, we will validate the location and organization of the facial musculature of the rhesus monkey using modern dissection techniques. Second, we will objectively qualify the facial appearance changes produced by stimulating each facial muscle in anesthetized monkeys using intramuscular electrical stimulation and then documenting the resulting facial movements. Third, once these basic components have been documented, we will establish a numerical system, using FACS criteria and terminology, to describe each individual component movement, i.e. a movement map, for the rhesus face. Finally, we will use existing video recordings of spontaneous behavior in rhesus to qualify the degree of intensity that is typical for each movement. These results will be packaged into a manual form, complete with photographic documentation of each movement at its varying levels of intensity for distribution to researchers in related areas of neuroscience and public health who work with animal models for clinical disorders. Not only with this system (MaqFACS) provide seminal data on the expressive facial repertoire of the rhesus monkey, benefiting those interested in natural ethology and communication, it will provide the standardization necessary for describing facial movement deficits, quantifying their degree of severity and range of improvement, in studies where monkeys are used as models for human affective and related disorders. Researchers using monkeys to model aspects of human affective and related disorders, including Parkinson's disease and depression, currently have no standardized method for quantifying deficits in facial movement, although such deficits are prominent in the phenotypes of many human disorders. This project aims to develop an anatomically- based system for measuring facial movement in the rhesus monkey, the main primate model for human affective disorders that is objective, standardized, and directly comparable to methods used for quantifying human facial movement in clinical studies (Ekman, Friesen & Hagar, 2002). The development of this system is critical for researchers to quantify the severity of facial movement deficits and evaluate improvements after clinical treatment. Ultimately, this system will advance our ability to model and treat human affective diseases.