US-German Research Proposal: Collaborative Research: Field Potentials in the Auditory System

美德研究提案：合作研究：听觉系统的场电位

• 批准号: 1516357
• 负责人: Catherine Carr
• 金额: $ 22.45万
• 依托单位: University of Maryland, College Park
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1516357&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: US; German; Research; Proposal; Collaborative

The goal of the project is to provide a better understanding of what neural processes make up extracellular potentials recorded from brain, like the electroencephalogram (EEG). Although recorded in many settings, these potentials are poorly understood. Yet, they are clinically important; for instance, they are used for diagnosis of epilepsy and early detection of deafness. Development of differential diagnostic tools depends on understanding what brain components contribute to the recorded potentials. The investigators use a combination of quantitative modeling and recordings from the auditory system of the Barn Owl to gain insight into the connection between field potentials and their neuronal generators. In addition to better understanding of a widely used diagnostic tool, a further societally relevant outcome of the project lies in training women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The U.S. and the German laboratories in this international collaboration have a strong commitment to science education and a well-established track record of training research fellows, as well as high school students and undergraduates from diverse backgrounds. Extracellular field potentials are typically generated by various neuronal sources, making their interpretation difficult. They are, however, clinically important, with applications ranging from diagnostics to brain-computer interfaces. In the auditory system, for example, the auditory evoked potential, also called the auditory brainstem response (ABR) is widely used for newborn hearing screening but little is known how specific nuclei contribute to it structure. Motivated by clinical relevance and theoretical importance of understanding extracellular field potentials, the international team applies a combined computational and neurophysiological investigation of the extracellular field potential in a bird model system. The targeted neural structure, the Nucleus Laminaris in the Barn Owl, is homogeneous and well organized, and allows direct access to a system with a large extracellular field potential. The investigators' models and experiments delineate the potential contributions of the three possible sources of the extracellular field potentials. The approach tightly integrates theory and experiments, to provide a fundamental understanding of the connection between the extracellular field potentials and their neuronal generators. The results from this collaborative cross-disciplinary effort will provide a basis for the interpretation of the clinically relevant ABR. A companion project is being funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

该项目的目标是更好地理解哪些神经过程构成了大脑记录的细胞外电位，例如脑电图 (EEG)。尽管在许多情况下都有记录，但人们对这些潜力知之甚少。 然而，它们在临床上很重要。例如，它们用于诊断癫痫和早期发现耳聋。差异诊断工具的开发取决于对记录电位的大脑成分的了解。研究人员结合定量模型和谷仓猫头鹰听觉系统的记录来深入了解场电位与其神经元发生器之间的联系。 除了更好地了解广泛使用的诊断工具之外，该项目的另一个与社会相关的成果在于对女性进行科学、技术、工程和数学方面的培训。在这项国际合作中，美国和德国实验室对科学教育做出了坚定的承诺，并在培训研究人员以及来自不同背景的高中生和本科生方面拥有良好的记录。细胞外场电位通常由各种神经元来源产生，这使得它们的解释变得困难。然而，它们在临床上很重要，应用范围从诊断到脑机接口。例如，在听觉系统中，听觉诱发电位（也称为听觉脑干反应（ABR））广泛用于新生儿听力筛查，但人们对特定核团如何影响其结构知之甚少。出于理解细胞外场电位的临床相关性和理论重要性的动机，国际团队对鸟类模型系统中的细胞外场电位进行了计算和神经生理学联合研究。目标神经结构，谷仓猫头鹰的层状核，是均匀且组织良好的，并且允许直接访问具有大细胞外场电位的系统。研究人员的模型和实验描绘了细胞外场电位的三种可能来源的潜在贡献。该方法将理论和实验紧密结合起来，以提供对细胞外场电位与其神经元发生器之间的联系的基本理解。这项跨学科合作的结果将为解释临床相关的 ABR 提供基础。德国教育和研究部 (BMBF) 正在资助一个配套项目。