A computational approach to network control in the brain

大脑网络控制的计算方法

• 批准号: RGPIN-2021-02949
• 负责人: Towlson, Emma
• 金额: $ 2.11万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=749931
• 关键词: computational; approach; network; control; brain

The question of how structure relates to function is one of the most rich and enduring themes in neuroscience. The brain is inescapably an intricate and complex network of many interacting components at all levels, from the molecular interactions within the cell, to neurons connected by synapses, to macroscopic regions connected by white matter tracts. Over the past years, ever more detailed maps of these networks have been emerging. Yet, few studies are able to provide quantitative links between structure, function, and behaviour, especially in the human brain. The wiring of the healthy brain must facilitate control: a nervous system is able to continuously control the state of its circuitry, and maintain functional control between its inputs (external stimuli) and outputs (behavioural responses). Mounting evidence, including my own research in C. elegans, is demonstrating the promise of network control to achieve this elusive goal and make experimentally testable predictions. C. elegans, a ~1mm long roundworm, remains one of the only examples of a completely mapped nervous system at the neuronal level. In this network, nodes are neurons which are connected by electrical and chemical synapses. With this proposal, we plan to use tools from network neuroscience and network control theory to develop a truly transdisciplinary description of the structure and function of the C. elegans neuronal network. Our goal is to ascertain a theoretical and algorithmic understanding of how the interactions within a neural system, relying on inputs from multiple sensory systems, achieve and maintain control. Specifically, we seek to understand: (i) How, at the network level, the brain facilitates single behaviours, and whole repertoires of behaviours; (ii) The energetic principles of state transitions in the brain and why specific behaviours are selected in certain circumstances; (iii) How to restore function to a damaged network. These findings will have implications for our understanding of the structure-function mapping in the brain networks of organisms more generally.

结构与功能的关系是神经科学中最丰富、最持久的主题之一。从细胞内的分子相互作用，到通过突触连接的神经元，再到通过白质束连接的宏观区域，大脑不可避免地是一个由各级相互作用的许多成分组成的错综复杂的网络。在过去的几年里，这些网络的更详细的地图已经出现。然而，很少有研究能够提供结构、功能和行为之间的定量联系，特别是在人类大脑中。健康大脑的线路必须促进控制：神经系统能够持续控制其电路的状态，并保持其输入（外部刺激）和输出（行为反应）之间的功能控制。越来越多的证据，包括我自己对秀丽隐杆线虫的研究，正在证明网络控制有望实现这一难以捉摸的目标，并做出实验上可测试的预测。秀丽隐杆线虫是一种长约1毫米的蛔虫，它仍然是唯一在神经元水平上完全映射神经系统的例子之一。在这个网络中，节点是由电突触和化学突触连接起来的神经元。我们计划利用网络神经科学和网络控制理论的工具，对秀丽隐杆线虫神经元网络的结构和功能进行真正的跨学科描述。我们的目标是确定一个理论和算法的理解如何相互作用的神经系统，依赖于多个感官系统的输入，实现和维持控制。具体来说，我们试图理解：(i)在网络层面，大脑如何促进单一行为和整个行为库；（ii）大脑中状态转换的能量原理以及为什么在某些情况下选择特定行为；（三）如何恢复受损网络功能。这些发现将对我们更广泛地理解生物体大脑网络的结构-功能映射具有启示意义。