An objective of neuroscience research is to understand the neuronal basis of behavior at the cellular level. Implicit in this goal is the desire to understand how the CNS malfunctions in disorders such as schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. These goals require an understanding of how neural networks are organized and how they can be influenced to produce different behaviors. One approach to this end is to understand how distinct sensory pathways modify neural network activity to produce different behaviors. The crustacean stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) is a model system whose network activity has been studied for over thirty years. Researchers studying this system have acquired the nearly unique position in neuroscience of knowing how a discrete network of neurons generates the activity patterns underlying behavior at the detailed cellular level. This deep level of understanding of the STNS makes this model system a prime candidate for studying how information carried by different sensory pathways relevant to a single behavior is processed and integrated within the nervous system to yield distinct neural outputs. Therefore, the proposal outlined below focuses on determining how activation of distinct sensory pathways modulates the output of the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of the rock crab, Cancer borealis. An interdisciplinary approach will be used, including intra- and extracellular recordings and neuroanatomical techniques. The hypothesis guiding this proposal is that motor pattern selection from a multifunctional neural network results from different sensory pathways evoking different motor patterns as a consequence of their having distinct actions on overlapping subsets of (a) modulatory projection neurons and (b) STG network neurons.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31NS041894-03
Application #
6606962
Study Section
Integrative, Functional and Cognitive Neuroscience 8 (IFCN)
Project Start
2002-07-01
Project End
2004-03-31
Budget Start
2003-07-01
Budget End
2004-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2003
Total Cost
$22,274
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pennsylvania
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
042250712
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19104
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Christie, Andrew E; Stein, Wolfgang; Quinlan, John E et al. (2004) Actions of a histaminergic/peptidergic projection neuron on rhythmic motor patterns in the stomatogastric nervous system of the crab Cancer borealis. J Comp Neurol 469:153-69
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