Morphology and function of commissural interneurons

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的主要目标是研究感觉刺激如何影响不同运动行为中的互交中间神经元。在我们解决这个问题之前，我们必须首先建立对连接中间神经元多样性和功能范围的深刻理解。透明的斑马鱼幼体已经发展成为一种脊椎动物模型系统，利用先进的成像和遗传技术来研究体内的神经回路。以前，由于注射伪影，使用传统的逆行技术难以识别互交中间神经元。我们将采用一种新的方法，通过遗传方法引入钙成像染料，根据它们在不同行为中的三维形态和钙通量信号来可视化和识别相互连接中间神经元的类别。然后，我们将使用成对电生理贴片记录来测试特定类别的互碰中间神经元的突触连通性，这些神经元具有易于识别的大型罗洪-比尔德感觉细胞，受到已知强度的物理刺激。这将使我们能够广泛地评估环境刺激在细胞水平上如何在脊椎动物的不同运动行为中被处理。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The broad goals of this proposal are to examine how sensory stimuli affect commissural interneurons during different motor behaviors. Before we can attack this question, it is imperative that we first establish a strong understanding of the scope of commissural interneuron diversity and function. Transparent, larval zebrafish have burgeoned as a model vertebrate system to study neural circuits in vivo using elegant imaging and genetic techniques. Previously, commissural interneurons were difficult to identify using traditional retrograde techniques due to injection artifacts. We will use a novel method to genetically introduce calcium imaging dyes to visualize and therefore identify classes of commissural interneurons based on their three dimensional morphology and calcium flux signals during different behaviors. We will then use pair-wise electrophysiological patch recordings to test the synaptic connectivity of specific classes of commissural interneurons with large, easily-identified Rohon-Beard sensory cells excited with a physical stimulus of known magnitude. This will allow us to broadly evaluate how environmental stimuli are processed at the cellular level during different motor behaviors in vertebrates.