Neuronal and theoretical analysis of spatial orientation

空间定向的神经元和理论分析

• 批准号: 7534826
• 负责人: SHAWN R LOCKERY
• 金额: $ 32.58万
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-05-01 至 2011-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/7534826
• 关键词: Ablation; Adaptive Behaviors; Address; Afferent Neurons; Alleles; Alzheimer' s Disease; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Animals; Behavior; Behavior Control; Behavioral; Biological Models; C. elegans genome; Caenorhabditis elegans; Calcium; Chemicals; Chemotaxis; Defect; Disease; Electrophysiology (science); Funding; Genes; Genetic; Human; Image; Interneurons; Kinetics; Lasers; Link; Locomotion; Membrane Potentials; Mental Health; Mental disorders; Methods; Modeling; Molecular; Motor; Movement; Mutation; Nematoda; Nerve Degeneration; Nervous system structure; Neurodegenerative Disorders; Neurons; Organism; Orthologous Gene; Parkinson Disease; Physiological; Regulation; Research; Research Personnel; Sensory; Space Perception; Synapses; System; Techniques; Testing; base; human disease; mathematical model; mutant; novel; relating to nervous system; response; statistics

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objective of the proposed research is to understand how the nervous system controls behavior. This question has significant implications for mental health, for mental illness is, ultimately, a disease of behavior. Taking a model systems approach, we will study the neuronal basis of behavior in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. The existence of a complete description of the synaptic connectivity of the 302 neurons of the C. elegans nervous system, and the wide range of genetic and physiological techniques for linking genes and neurons to behavior in this animal, makes it unusually well-suited to the proposed studies. In addition, more than 60% of all human disease genes have a correlate in C. elegans, including genes implicated in devastating neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, and Lou Gehrig's disease. The present proposal focuses on chemotaxis -locomotion oriented to a chemical gradient -a simple example of the important problem of how sensory information is transformed by movement control centers to generate adaptive behavior. We have previously shown that chemotaxis in C. elegans follows a well-defined rule: turn more frequently when going down the gradient, and turn less frequently when going up the gradient. Other researchers have identified a network of neurons that controls the decision to go straight or to turn, but it is not yet known how this network functions in chemotaxis. We will address this question using a remarkable combination of genetics, electrophysiology, calcium imaging, and behavioral analysis to test a mathematical model of locomotory regulation. The proposed research is significant because locomotion defects are one of the main consequences of altering the function of neurodegenerative disease genes in C. elegans.

描述（由申请人提供）：拟议研究的长期目标是了解神经系统如何控制行为。这个问题对心理健康有着重要的意义，因为心理疾病归根结底是一种行为疾病。以模型系统的方法，我们将研究线虫秀丽隐杆线虫行为的神经元基础。对C.线虫的神经系统，以及将基因和神经元与这种动物的行为联系起来的广泛的遗传和生理技术，使其非常适合拟议的研究。此外，超过60%的人类疾病基因与C。包括与帕金森氏症、阿尔茨海默氏症和卢伽雷氏病等毁灭性神经退行性疾病有关的基因。目前的建议集中在趋化性-运动定向到一个化学梯度-一个简单的例子的重要问题，感觉信息是如何转换的运动控制中心，以产生自适应行为。我们以前已经证明，在C。秀丽线虫遵循一个定义明确的规则：向下倾斜时转动更频繁，向上倾斜时转动更少。其他研究人员已经确定了一个控制直行或转弯决定的神经元网络，但尚不清楚这个网络在趋化性中的功能。我们将使用遗传学，电生理学，钙成像和行为分析的显着组合来解决这个问题，以测试运动调节的数学模型。这项研究意义重大，因为运动缺陷是改变C.优美的