EAGER: Identification of chemosensitive regions in brainstems of herps

变温脊椎动物在其正常生活史中经历了广泛的温度范围，这对它们的酸碱平衡有相当大的影响。考虑到pH调节的基本重要性，变温脊椎动物应该有一套明确的机制来补偿温度对酸碱的影响。因此，令人感兴趣的是，相反，有一个广泛的酸碱调节策略来应对由体温变化引起的挑战。对于任何pH调节策略，对急性温度引起的pH代谢变化的反应都需要一种感知这些扰动并适当调整呼吸深度和节奏的能力。本项目的主要目标是识别脑干的化学敏感区域，并表征牛蛙、泰古蜥蜴和萨凡纳巨蜥在这些区域内感觉神经元的细胞特性。这些实验解决了动物在变体温下通气控制和维持pH稳态的反馈回路的主要元素。比较、综合的方法对于找到共同的潜在机制至关重要。这些实验中使用的诸如脑干切片之类的简化准备对于发现对理解系统如何工作至关重要的生理机制是有用的；然而，也有必要将这些信息整合到反馈回路中，因为它是生物体作为一个整体对其环境做出反应。莱特州立大学生物科学系积极鼓励本科生参与研究，PI将继续鼓励STEM学科的女性和其他少数民族探索研究，将其作为本科和/或研究生教育期间的重要学习经验和职业选择。PI和她的学员积极参与当地学区的推广项目，包括科学展览和“PhUn周”（由美国生理学会组织和赞助）。PI还强烈鼓励她的学员与他们的社区分享他们所学到的知识，以促进公众参与，并让他们学会教学和传达研究的重要性。

Poikilothermic vertebrates experience a broad range of temperatures during their normal life histories with considerable impact on their acid-base balance. Given the fundamental importance of pH regulation, poikilothermic vertebrates should have a well-defined set of mechanisms to compensate for the effects of temperature on acid-base. Thus it is intriguing that, instead, there is a broad spectrum of acid-base regulating strategies in response to the challenge induced by variable body temperature. For any pH-regulatory strategy the response to acute temperature-induced metabolic alterations in pH requires an ability to sense those perturbations and appropriately adjust the depth and rhythm of breathing. The primary objectives of this project are to identify chemosensitive regions of the brainstem and characterize cellular properties of sensory neurons within those regions in bullfrogs, Tegu lizards, and Savannah monitor lizards. These experiments address major elements of the feedback loop for ventilatory control and maintenance of pH homeostasis in animals subject to variable body temperatures. Comparative, integrative approaches are essential to finding common underlying mechanisms. Reduced preparations like the brainstem slices used in these experiments are useful for discovering physiological mechanisms critical for understanding how systems work; however, it is also necessary to integrate this information into the feedback loop since it is the organism as a whole which is responding to its environment. Wright State University's Biological Sciences department actively encourages involvement of undergraduate students in research, and the PI will continue to encourage women and other minorities in the STEM disciplines to explore research both as an important learning experience during their undergraduate and/or graduate education and as a career choice. The PI and her trainees are active participants in outreach programs in local school districts including science fairs and "PhUn week" (organized and sponsored by the American Physiological Society). The PI also strongly encourages her trainees to share what they have learned with their communities for public engagement and for them to learn to teach and convey the importance of research.