Central Processing of Electrosensory Information

有鱼类被称为“弱电”鱼，因为 它们会从一个电器官中发出一种微小的放电。 他们使用 皮肤中的电感受器器官，以检测 它们周围的电场，有点像回声定位 行为 它们大脑的一个完整部分叫做 电感觉叶（ELL），神经信号来自 电感受器与来自其他部位的神经信号相结合 包括关于身体位置的信息， 用于电器官放电的定时的命令，以及关于 其他阶段的电感觉处理。 感觉调节 投入已在这里的有效性的变化中得到证明， 神经细胞之间的接触，称为突触可塑性。 这项工作使用电生理学和解剖跟踪的 单个神经细胞的过程，以确定ELL内的细胞如何 对电感觉和中枢输入作出反应，并确定 ELL的基本解剖电路。 这个模型系统是有用的， 作为一个“简单的”，但作为一个可能有助于理解真实的 感觉运动整合的复杂性， 脊椎动物中枢神经系统的行为。 使用此 不寻常的非人类感官将提供关于如何核心的见解 大脑结构改变了感觉信息的流动， 感觉信息由命令的运动活动调制，并且 突触可塑性如何影响感觉处理功能， 网络功能。

There are fish species known as "weakly electric" fish, because they emit a small discharge from an electric organ. They use electroreceptor organs in the skin to detect changes in the electric field that surrounds them, somewhat like echolocation behavior. One whole part of their brain is called the electrosensory lobe (ELL), where the nerve signals from electroreceptors are integrated with nerve signals from other parts of the brain, including information about body position, about the commands for timing of the electric organ discharge, and about other stages of electrosensory processing. Modulation of sensory input has been demonstrated here in the changes in effectiveness of the contacts between nerve cells, known as synaptic plasticity. This work uses electrophysiology and anatomical tracing of the processes of single nerve cells to determine how cells within ELL respond to electrosensory and central inputs, and to determine the basic anatomical circuitry of ELL. This model system is useful not as a "simple" one, but as one which may help to understand the real complexities of sensorimotor integration linking sensation to behavior in the vertebrate central nervous system. Using this unusual non-human sense will provide insights about how central brain structures modify the flow of sensory information, how sensory information is modulated by commanded motor activity, and how synaptic plasticity affects functions of sensory processing and network functions.