RUI Collaborative: Biomechanics and Control of Landing in Toads

RUI 协作：蟾蜍的生物力学和着陆控制

• 批准号: 1051691
• 负责人: Jeffery Erickson
• 金额: $ 18.39万
• 依托单位: The College of New Jersey
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-04-15 至 2014-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1051691&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Collaborative; Biomechanics; Control; Landing; RUI; Collaborative; Biomechanics; Control; Landing

The hindlimb muscles of frogs and toads have served as an exemplary model for understanding muscle?s role in powering propulsive movements like jumping. Anything that jumps must ultimately land, but unlike during jumping, where muscles produce the energy to accelerate the body, controlled landing requires muscles to dissipate energy to decelerate the body. The role of muscles during energy dissipation remains poorly understood. This research will reveal important principles associated with this locomotor activity. Terrestrial toads are outstanding at landing, using their forelimbs exclusively to decelerate their bodies. The proposed work will use toad landing as a model system for understanding how muscles control forelimb joint movements (shoulder, elbow and wrist) during and after impact. During human jumps, pre-landing activity in leg muscles is used to stiffen joints in preparation for landing, and is tuned to the expected time and magnitude of impact. Recent work demonstrates similarly prescient activity in muscles acting at the elbow joints of hopping toads in mid-air. The proposed work will address the generality of such tuned, pre-landing activity at other forelimb joints, and will specifically test the hypothesis that its utility lies in preventing muscles involved in energy dissipation from stretching to overly long lengths during landing, where injuries are most likely to occur. We will also examine the importance of visual and proprioceptive feedback in helping animals tune muscle activity to coordinate landing after hops of variable height and distance. By integrating biomechanics, muscle physiology and sensory biology this work will highlight fundamental principles governing controlled deceleration, an action common to most locomotor systems. Undergraduate students will be essential to the execution and presentation of this work, and by involving students and faculty from local community colleges, we will broaden direct participation in cutting-edge research.

青蛙和蟾蜍的后肢肌肉已成为理解肌肉在推动跳跃等推进运动中的作用的模范模型。任何跳跃的东西都必须最终降落，但是与在跳跃过程中，肌肉产生能量加速身体的能量，受控着陆需要肌肉耗散能量以减速身体。肌肉在耗散过程中的作用仍然很少了解。这项研究将揭示与这种运动活性相关的重要原理。陆地蟾蜍在着陆方面非常出色，使用其前肢专门减速其身体。拟议的工作将使用Toad Landing作为模型系统，以了解肌肉在撞击期间和之后如何控制前肢关节运动（肩膀，肘部和手腕）。在人跳跃过程中，腿部肌肉的前飞活动用于使关节加强以准备着陆，并调整为预期的时间和撞击幅度。最近的工作表明，在空中跳动蟾蜍的肘部关节作用的肌肉中类似的先见优先活性。 拟议的工作将解决其他前肢关节的这种调谐，陆地活动的普遍性，并将特别检验以下假设：其效用在于防止在降落期间降落时涉及能量耗散的肌肉，从而在降落期间延伸到过长的长度，而受伤最有可能发生。 我们还将研究视觉和本体感受反馈在帮助动物调整肌肉活动以在高度和距离之跳后降落的重要性。通过整合生物力学，肌肉生理学和感觉生物学，这项工作将突出有关控制减速的基本原理，这是大多数运动系统共有的行动。本科生将对这项工作的执行和介绍至关重要，通过让当地社区学院的学生和教职员工参与，我们将扩大直接参与尖端研究。