MODULATION OF A NEURONAL OSCILLATOR IN A VERTEBRATE

这项提议的广泛的、长期的目标是了解神经元 动物处理感官信息的机制和相应的 生成自适应行为。特别令人感兴趣的是动物是如何 使用有限的电机电路集的不同行为。建议进行的研究 旨在阐明各种疾病背后的神经机制 一种名为Hypopomus的电鱼在 追求和攻击性。最近发现，各种各样的 可以在这种电鱼的卷曲制剂中诱导行为 通过将L-谷氨酸微离子导入体内的一个小区域 间脑，起搏前核。前两个具体目标是 理解不同的行为是如何在这个小大脑中组织起来的 结构。生理记录和解剖标记将被 在体内准备中进行的。起搏器前核投射到 最后的运动核，即起搏器核，并调节其规则 产生电行为的振荡。以下两个具体内容 目的是了解起搏器核如何产生复杂的运动 产出。尽管它非常简单的组织和僵硬的电气 在组成神经元之间的耦合，起搏器核能够 在调制输入下生成来自 起搏器前核。体内制剂也将用于 行为诱导时起搏神经元的细胞内穿透 通过刺激起搏器前核。 这些实验的结果将有助于理解 中枢神经系统如何调节不同类型的行为 单神经元水平以及如何将看似僵硬的网络调制为 产生不同的脊椎动物行为模式。

The broad, long-term objective of this proposal is to understand neuronal mechanisms by which animals process sensory information and accordingly generate adaptive behavior. Of particular interest is how animals generate diverse behaviors using limited sets of motor circuits. The proposed study is designed to elucidate the neuronal mechanisms underlying a variety of electrical behaviors performed by an electric fish, Hypopomus, during courtship and aggression. It was recently discovered that a variety of behaviors can be induced in a curarized preparation of this electric fish by microiontophoresis of L-glutamate into a small region in the diencephalon, the prepacemaker nucleus. The first two specific aims are to understand how different behaviors are organized in this small brain structure. Physiological recordings and anatomical labeling will be performed in in vivo preparations. The prepacemaker nucleus projects to the final motor nucleus, the pacemaker nucleus, and modulates its regular oscillation to generate electrical behaviors. The following two specific aims are to understand how the pacemaker nucleus generates complex motor outputs. Despite its very simple organization and the rigid electrical coupling between constituent neurons, the pacemaker nucleus is capable of generating a variety of outputs under the modulatory inputs from the prepacemaker nucleus. In vivo preparations will also be used for intracellular penetration of pacemaker neurons while behaviors are induced by stimulation of the prepacemaker nucleus. The results of these experiments will contribute to the understanding of how the central nervous system regulates different types of behavior at the single-neuron level and how seemingly rigid networks can be modulated to generate different patterns of vertebrate behavior.