SKIN BIOMECHANICS AND MECHANORECEPTOR RESPONSE

描述：（改编自申请人摘要） 该项目的目标是获得科学的认识， 人类触觉的起源和机制。特别是 主要关注的是物体的形状、柔软度和表面纹理 灵长类动物指尖皮肤上的锯齿、敲击或振动都被编码 由机械感受器的群体。对于这些刺激，定量 了解什么时空负荷施加在皮肤上，如何 它们通过皮肤传递，而哪些机械信号 由每种类型的空间分布的机械感受器转导 人口有待发展。主要组成部分和拟议的 研究是（1）使用新型声学成像收集生物力学数据 系统和高精度触觉刺激器， 在过去的一年里，（2）独特的二维和三维计算 灵长类动物指尖模型，以及（3）线性和 非线性系统识别技术，以帮助发展理论， 触觉编码 本提案的具体目标是：（1）获得高分辨率 灵长类动物指垫皮肤的解剖和应变图像， 超声背向散射显微镜（UBM），（2）获得动态指垫 使用触觉刺激器的阻抗数据，（3）使用来自 实验，以提高高分辨率的计算模型的 手指垫和执行有限元模拟，涉及接触 在变化的动态下的柔软的、有纹理的和凹的刚性物体 条件，以及（4）使用来自实验和 计算机模拟开发触觉编码的系统理论。在 项目的各个阶段，实验数据，计算模型， 模拟和理论将互相帮助。 这项研究的好处包括分离的作用， 从外周神经反应中的受体动力学的组织力学， 以及最终帮助分离的作用， 和躯体感觉信息处理的中枢机制。一 从临床角度来看，长期受益的例子是 设计更好的触觉评价测试的能力 正常和受损的手，以帮助诊断，治疗， 康复活动.

DESCRIPTION: (Adapted From The Applicant's Abstract) The goal of this project is to gain a scientific understanding of the origins and the mechanisms of human tactile sense. In particular, the major focus is on how the shape, softness and surface texture of objects indented, stroked or vibrated on the primate fingertip skin are encoded by populations of mechanoreceptors. For these stimuli, a quantitative understanding of what spatio-temporal loads are imposed on the skin, how they are transmitted through the skin, and which mechanical signals are transduced by each type of spatially distributed mechanoreceptor populations is to be developed. The major components and of the proposed study are (1) biomechanical data gathered using a novel acoustic imaging system and a high precision tactile stimulator that have been developed over the past year, (2) unique 2- and 3- dimensional computational models of the primate fingertip, and (3) application of linear and nonlinear system identification techniques to help develop a theory of tactile coding. The specific aims of this proposal are (1) to obtain high resolution anatomical and strain images of the primate fingerpad skin using Ultrasound Backscatter Microscopy (UBM), (2) to obtain dynamic fingerpad impedance data using the Tactile Stimulator, (3) to use the data from experiments to improve high resolution computational models of the fingerpad and perform finite element simulations involving contact with soft, textured and concave rigid objects under varying dynamic conditions, and (4) to use the results from both experiments and computer simulations to develop a systems theory of tactile coding. At each stage of the project, the experimental data, computational model simulations, and the theory will aid one another. The benefits of this research include the separation of the role of tissue mechanics from receptor dynamics in peripheral neural response, as well as eventually aiding the separation of the roles of peripheral and central mechanisms in somatosensory information processing. One example of a long term benefit from a clinical standpoint will be the ability to design better tests for the evaluation of tactile sensibility of normal and impaired hands to aid diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation.