Dissecting the structure and function of vertebrate sensorimotor neural circuits using larval zebrafish

使用幼虫斑马鱼解剖脊椎动物感觉运动神经回路的结构和功能

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-06322
• 负责人: Thiele, Tod
• 金额: $ 2.62万
• 依托单位: University of Toronto
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=630725
• 关键词: Dissecting; structure; function; vertebrate; sensorimotor

Essential to our daily lives is the ability to use sensory information to plan and produce goal-directed movements. Such behaviours include basic tasks like reaching for an object or walking up a flight of stairs. Despite the relative simplicity of these behaviours, there is an astounding amount of complexity in the so-called “sensorimotor neural circuits” that control them. Determining the structure and function of these circuits that underlie sensation and movement is essential to understanding how the brain produces behaviour. Some of the challenges faced by neuroscientists in unraveling circuit function are the sheer number of neurons in the mammalian brain and their incredible diversity. Additionally, the scale and opacity of the brain hinders our ability to thoroughly record neuronal activity during behaviour. Recent technological advances in molecular biology, microscopy and computing have made it possible to begin to overcome some of these experimental hurdles. These advances present researchers with an unprecedented opportunity to make fundamental discoveries about how neural circuits operate.

我们日常生活中必不可少的是利用感官信息来计划和产生目标导向运动的能力。这些行为包括一些基本的任务，比如伸手去拿东西或爬楼梯。尽管这些行为相对简单，但控制它们的所谓“感觉运动神经回路”却有着惊人的复杂性。确定这些构成感觉和运动基础的回路的结构和功能，对于理解大脑如何产生行为至关重要。神经科学家在解开回路功能时面临的一些挑战是哺乳动物大脑中神经元的数量及其令人难以置信的多样性。此外，大脑的规模和不透明性阻碍了我们彻底记录行为过程中神经元活动的能力。分子生物学、显微镜学和计算机技术的最新进展使克服这些实验障碍成为可能。这些进步为研究人员提供了一个前所未有的机会，可以发现神经回路是如何运作的。