Chemistry of Life Processes-Coupled Networks: Chemical and Neural

通过研究一些相对复杂的化学反应和一个相对简单的神经网络，主要研究人员希望对网络的不同部分如何相互作用以产生有节奏的行为得出新的见解。最终，主要的研究人员试图解释神经元组是如何共同工作来产生和调节简单的有节奏的行为，如行走、咀嚼或呼吸。主要研究人员建议构建和研究由耦合组件组成的网络的性质，其中每个组件都能够独立地具有振荡、双稳态或其他复杂的动力学行为。将研究两类系统：a)连续流动反应器中的无机化学反应，通过传质或计算机控制的浓度依赖的输入流量调节耦合；b)在组织培养中生长的甲壳类口胃神经节神经元，通过电子控制的人工突触和电子连接进行耦合。通过使用各种不同的组成部分并改变它们之间联系的性质，首席调查人员应能够探索由大量简单、相同的单元组成的神经网络研究尚未回答的问题。这些问题包括a)主要依赖于单元之间的耦合的紧急网络特性与由单个单元的特性产生的网络特性之间的关系；b)耦合振荡器网络可以显示的行为模式的范围；c)耦合的细节如何影响网络的行为；以及d)延迟耦合在振荡器网络中的作用。拟议的实验研究将得到正在进行的关于化学和神经系统的理论工作的补充。虽然从机制上更好地理解了化学系统，但这两类系统之间已经明显的动力学相似之处应该有助于两组实验之间富有成效的相互作用，并最终导致对真实神经网络的操作有更清晰的了解，例如那些在有节奏的运动系统中发现的神经网络，或者特别是口胃神经系统中的神经网络。

By studying some relatively complex chemical reactions and a relatively simple neural network, the principal investigators hope to derive new insights into how the different parts of a network interact to produce rhythmic behavior. Ultimately, the principal investigators seek to explain how groups of neurons work together to generate and modulate simple rhythmic behaviors such as walking, chewing or breathing. The principal investigators propose to construct and study the properties of networks of coupled components, each of which is independently capable of oscillatory, bistable or other complex dynamical behavior. Two classes of systems will be investigated: a) inorganic chemical reactions in continuous flow reactors coupled through mass transfer or through computer- controlled concentration-dependent modulation of input flows; and b) neurons of the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion grown in tissue culture and coupled through electronically-controlled artificial synapses and electronic connections. By employing a variety of different components and varying the nature of the connections between them, the principal investigators shall be able to explore questions that have not bee answered by studies of neural networks consisting of large numbers of simple, identical units. Such issues include a) the relationship between emergent network properties, which depend primarily on the coupling between units, and network properties that result from the properties of individual units; b) the range of behavior modes that can be displayed by coupled oscillator networks; c) how the details of the coupling influence the behavior of the network; and d) the role of delayed coupling in oscillator networks. The proposed experimental studies will be supplemented by ongoing theoretical work on both the chemical and neural systems. While the chemical systems are better understood mechanistically, dynamic similarities already apparent between the two classes of systems should make for a fruitful interplay between the two sets of experiments and ultimately lead to a clearer picture of the operation of real neural networks such as those found in rhythmic motor systems in general, or the stomatogastric nervous system in particular.