A Neural Interface for Coordinating Speech and Breathing

描述（由申请人提供）：许多常见的言语和语言障碍的神经学基础仍然难以捉摸，主要是因为对大脑中如何产生发声运动模式知之甚少。其中一个有待解决的关键问题是，语音模式如何与呼吸模式无缝交织在一起。语言和呼吸在大脑中的何处以及如何相互作用仍然是未知的。呼吸模式必须改变，以适应说话或唱歌的人所使用的高度可变的语音模式，但语音的时间流自然受到有规律呼吸的限制。这一过程揭示了一个复杂的神经基质的存在下，调节下行流的声乐运动命令到中央呼吸节律中心使用当前的信息从肺和喉的体感反馈。虽然人类的语言是独特的复杂，回声定位蝙蝠比较有利的声音呼吸动力学的背景下。回声定位行为依赖于一组精确但高度动态的不同呼吸模式，这些模式可以在实验室中由计算机生成的听觉刺激选择性地诱发。本申请将结合联合收割机在体内的电生理方法与计算机产生的听觉刺激，以调查的作用，一个新发现的神经元亚型的臂旁核的外侧区域，出现与发声呼吸模式的正常变化必不可少。据推测，这些发声呼吸整合神经元负责创造呼吸节律的相移，以适应发声。如果是这样的话，这些神经元将代表发声运动通路和调节呼吸节律的神经回路之间的重要界面。臂旁核是脊椎动物大脑中高度保守的区域，已知其对呼吸模式具有深远的影响，并且被认为是哺乳动物中发声运动通路的重要组成部分。任何病理性或发育性的发声-呼吸整合机制的破坏都会不可避免地降低正常的语音流动。因此，更彻底地了解这是如何以及在大脑中的何处实现的，可以揭示一些人类语言障碍的神经学基础，如口吃、构音障碍和失用症。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The neurological basis of many common speech and language disorders remains elusive, largely because very little is known about how vocal motor patterns are generated in the brain. One of the key questions yet to be addressed is how speech patterns come to be seamlessly interweaved with breathing patterns. Where and how in the brain speech and breathing interact remains unknown. Breathing patterns must be altered to accommodate the highly variable speech patterns utilized by a speaking or singing human, yet the temporal flow of speech is naturally constrained by the need to breath regularly. This process betrays the presence of a complex neural substrate that regulates the descending flow of vocal motor commands into the central respiratory rhythm centers using current information obtained from pulmonary and laryngeal somatosensory feedback. Although human speech is uniquely complex, echolocating bats compare favorably within the context of vocal-respiratory dynamics. Echolocation behavior relies upon a precise, yet highly dynamic set of distinct respiratory modes which can be selectively evoked in the lab by computer-generated auditory stimuli. This application will combine in vivo electrophysiological methods with computer-generated auditory stimuli to investigate the role of a newly discovered neuronal subtype in the lateral region of the parabrachial nucleus that appears essential for the normal changes in breathing patterns associated with vocalizing. It is hypothesized that these vocal-respiratory integration neurons are responsible for creating phase-shifts in breathing rhythms to accommodate vocalizing. If so, these neurons would represent an important interface between the vocal motor pathway and the neural circuitry regulating respiratory rhythms. The parabrachial nucleus is a highly conserved region of the vertebrate brain known to possess profound influences over breathing patterns, and is considered an essential component of the vocal motor pathway in mammals. Any pathological or developmental disruption of the vocal-respiratory integration mechanisms would unavoidably degrade the normal flow of speech. Thus, a more thorough understanding of how and where in the brain this is achieved could reveal the neurological basis of some human speech disorders, such as stuttering, disarthria and apraxia.