Modulation of Muscle Activation and Strain in Turtles

描述：（逐字从应用程序）这项研究将协调 声显微测量，肌电图，和数字摄像，以检查肌肉如何 功能被调节以执行运动行为， 要求.为了实现这一目标，这项研究将扩大目前的 淡水龟四肢肌肉功能的肌电图分析 将后肢运动学与后肢肌肉长度变化（应变）相关联，如 以及活动模式（EMG），在游泳和步行的海龟物种 它们拥有不同程度的水生运动的专门化。 淡水龟是一个很好的模型系统， 肌肉功能，首先是因为所有的物种都使用他们的四肢肌肉， 运动类型（游泳和步行），具有非常不同的功能 这不仅是因为某些物种使用一种运动形式， 偶尔，允许在不同的行为之间检查调制， 使用频率。具体的研究目的包括（1）评估相关性 肌肉紧张和活动之间的变化，以及（2） 评估肌肉紧张模式的调节趋势， 使用不同频率的行为。通过利用自然 海龟物种之间的行为变化，这项研究将提供洞察力 肌肉功能变化的一般模式， 相同的形态结构可用于执行多个任务。

DESCRIPTION: (Verbatim from application) This research will coordinate sonomicrometry, electromyography, and digital videography to examine how muscle function is modulated to perform motor behaviors with contrasting mechanical requirements. To achieve this objective, this study will extend current electromyographic analyses of limb muscle function in freshwater turtles to correlate hindlimb kinematics with hindlimb muscle length changes (strain), as well as activity patterns (EMG), during swimming and walking in turtle species that possess different degrees of specialization for aquatic locomotion. Freshwater turtles are an excellent model system for examining the modulation of muscle function, first because all species use their limb muscles for two types of locomotion (swimming and walking) with very different functional requirements, but also because some species use one form of locomotion infrequently, allowing modulation to be examined between behaviors that differ in frequency of use. Specific research aims include (1) evaluating correlations between changes in muscle strain and activity across behaviors, and (2) evaluating trends in the modulation of muscular strain patterns across behaviors used with different frequencies. By taking advantage of natural variations in behavior among turtle species, this study will provide insight into general patterns in the changes in muscle function required to allow the same morphological structure to be used to perform multiple tasks.