A NEURAL INTERFACE FOR COORDINATING SPEECH AND BREATHING

这个子项目是许多研究子项目中利用 资源由NIH/NCRR资助的中心拨款提供。子项目和 调查员(PI)可能从NIH的另一个来源获得了主要资金， 并因此可以在其他清晰的条目中表示。列出的机构是 该中心不一定是调查人员的机构。 许多常见言语和语言障碍的神经学基础仍然难以捉摸，很大程度上是因为人们对大脑中如何产生发声运动模式知之甚少。尚未解决的关键问题之一是，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位置和方式相互作用尚不清楚。呼吸模式必须改变，以适应说话或唱歌的人使用的高度可变的语音模式，然而语音的临时流动自然受到有规律呼吸的需要的限制。这一过程揭示了复杂神经底物的存在，该底物利用从肺和喉部躯体感觉反馈获得的电流信息，调节发声运动指令向中央呼吸节奏中心的下行流动。虽然人类的语音非常复杂，但在声音呼吸动力学的背景下，回声定位蝙蝠是比较有利的。回声定位行为依赖于一组精确的、但高度动态的不同呼吸模式，这些模式可以在实验室通过计算机生成的听觉刺激选择性地激发出来。这项应用将结合体内电生理方法和计算机产生的听觉刺激来研究新发现的臂旁核外侧区神经元亚型的作用，该亚型似乎对与发声相关的呼吸模式的正常变化至关重要。据推测，这些发声-呼吸整合神经元负责产生呼吸节奏的相移，以适应发声。如果是这样的话，这些神经元将是声带运动通路和调节呼吸节律的神经回路之间的重要接口。臂旁核是脊椎动物大脑中一个高度保守的区域，已知对呼吸模式具有深远的影响，被认为是哺乳动物发声运动途径的重要组成部分。任何发声-呼吸整合机制的病理性或发育性破坏都会不可避免地降低正常的语流。因此，对大脑如何以及在哪里实现这一点的更彻底的了解，可能会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。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. 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.