Neural responses to abiotic stress in locusts

环境条件的变化，如环境温度和氧气水平，可能会对神经系统的运行产生重大影响，从而危及动物。对于那些积极适应环境的动物来说，这种情况发生在重要的神经元电路受损时，远在细胞和组织受到直接损害之前。例如，即使检测捕食者迅速逼近的神经回路的操作受到轻微损害，也会增加生物体无法逃脱捕获和消耗的风险。此外，确保负责为工作肌肉提供足够氧气供应的神经回路继续有效运行也很重要。我的研究项目关注的是发现神经系统在极端条件下失效的机制，以及那些允许一些动物在相同环境中继续行为的机制。我们使用非洲蝗虫作为我们研究的模型系统，因为这些动物经常暴露在高温下，在不同的季节，洪水和浸泡的风险。蝗虫和大多数其他昆虫都有能力通过进入昏迷来度过压力时期，在昏迷期间能量得到保存，显然已经完全恢复。在接下来的五年里，我们将描述实现这一目标的一些途径和过程，并研究在从昏迷中恢复后，神经系统功能如何被修改以实现更有效的操作。所有神经学家普遍感兴趣的一个想法是，神经系统在高性能和节能之间不断权衡的过程中，为了获得最佳性能而进行调整。此外，昏迷期间的神经关闭过程与哺乳动物神经系统功能障碍的过程非常相似，包括中风和偏头痛。了解神经组织如何应对压力在操作层面上很重要，但在考虑到种群可能如何受到气候变化的影响时也是重要的；对蝗虫和蝗虫等害虫物种尤其重要。

Variation in environmental conditions, such as ambient temperature and oxygen levels, can have dramatic consequences for the operation of the nervous system, which thus endangers animals. For those animals that actively negotiate their environments this occurs at the point when vital neuronal circuits are impaired, long before cells and tissues suffer direct damage. For example, even marginally impaired operation of the neural circuitry for detecting the rapidly looming approach of predators will increase the risk that an organism fails to escape capture and consumption. Also it is important to ensure that the neural circuit responsible for providing working muscles with an adequate oxygen supply continues to operate effectively. My research program is concerned with discovering the mechanisms by which nervous systems fail under extreme conditions and those that allow some animals to continue behaving in the same environment. We use the African migratory locust as a model system for our studies because these animals are regularly exposed to high temperatures and, in different seasons, the risk of flooding and immersion. Locusts, and most other insects, have the ability to survive stressful times by entering a coma during which energy is conserved and from which recovery is apparently complete. Over the next five years we will describe some of the pathways and processes by which this is achieved and investigate how nervous system function is modified for more efficient operation after recovering from the coma. One idea of general interest to all neuroscientists is that nervous systems are tuned for optimal performance in a process whereby there is a continuous trade-off between high performance and energy conservation. Also the neural shutdown during the coma is very similar to the processes underlying dysfunctions of the mammalian nervous system including stroke and migraine. Understanding how neural tissue copes with stress is important at the level of operation but also in consideration of how populations might be affected by climate change; particularly important for pest species such as locusts and grasshoppers.