Control of Reafference in Posture and Locomotion

姿势和运动参考的控制

• 批准号: 1120291
• 负责人: Donald Edwards
• 金额: $ 60万
• 依托单位: Georgia State University Research Foundation, Inc.
• 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: 2011-08-01 至 2016-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1120291&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Control; Reafference; Posture; Locomotion

Resistance reflexes help an animal to counter external forces that would move its limbs, thus they help maintain a stable posture. During voluntary movement, those same resistance reflexes must be disabled or reversed to allow the movement to occur. This study asks how the resistance reflexes are organized to allow an animal to maintain a static posture, and how they are disabled and transformed into assistance reflexes at the onset of voluntary movements. While these questions have been approached in vertebrates, insects and crustaceans, answers are far from complete. The questions in the current study will be addressed in the crayfish because relevant circuitry for leg movements has been described in terms of a set of identified sensory neurons, interneurons and motor neurons, and their synaptic interactions. The investigators will use three approaches: (i) in vivo motion analysis and nerve recordings; (ii) a hybrid in vitro preparation/neuromechanical model; and (iii) a neuromechanical simulation of the crayfish body and nervous system. This approach will reveal how the animal controls its reflexes to help stabilize posture and assist voluntary movements underwater and on land, where the set of external forces are very different. The mechanisms discovered here are likely to be used by other legged animals. The approach employs two new tools developed by the principal investigator's laboratory, the AnimatLab neuromechanical simulation software and the hybrid neuromechanical interface that links a model to the nervous system of the experimental preparation. AnimatLab is freely available at www.animatlab.com, and the hybrid interface will be made into a commercial-grade electronic instrument. The research will provide training in neurophysiology, behavioral analysis and computational neuroscience to undergraduate and graduate students who include members of underrepresented populations. Those students will participate in helping to teach relevant portions of the summer B.R.A.I.N. course at Georgia State University for outstanding undergraduates from around the country.

抵抗反射有助于动物对抗会移动其四肢的外力，因此它们有助于保持稳定的姿势。在自愿运动期间，必须禁用或逆转相同的抵抗反射，以使运动发生。这项研究询问了如何组织阻力反射，以使动物保持静态姿势，以及在自愿运动开始时如何将其残疾并转化为辅助反射。尽管这些问题已经在脊椎动物，昆虫和甲壳类动物中解决，但答案远非完整。 当前研究中的问题将在小龙虾中解决，因为已经描述了一组已识别的感觉神经元，中间神经元和运动神经元及其突触相互作用的相关电路。研究人员将使用三种方法：（i）体内运动分析和神经记录； （ii）杂交体外制备/神经力学模型； （iii）小龙虾体和神经系统的神经力学模拟。这种方法将揭示动物如何控制其反射，以帮助稳定姿势并在水下和陆地上有助于外部力量截然不同的土地上的自愿运动。这里发现的机制可能会被其他腿部动物使用。该方法采用了主要研究者实验室开发的两个新工具，即动画神经力学模拟软件和混合神经力学接口，将模型与实验制备的神经系统联系起来。 AnimatLab可以在www.animatlab.com上免费获得，并且混合界面将用于商业级电子仪器。这项研究将为包括代表性不足人群的成员的本科生和研究生提供神经生理学，行为分析和计算神经科学的培训。 这些学生将参与帮助教授夏季B.R.A.I.N.的相关部分佐治亚州立大学的课程来自全国各地的杰出本科生。