论文标题
秀丽隐杆线虫中步态适应的神经力学机制:神经和机械耦合的相对作用
Neuromechanical Mechanisms of Gait Adaptation in C. elegans: Relative Roles of Neural and Mechanical Coupling
论文作者
论文摘要
理解神经化作用的原理需要综合神经活动,感觉反馈和生物力学。线虫\ textit {c。秀丽隐杆线是一种理想的模型生物体,用于在整合的神经力学环境中研究运动,因为其神经电路具有良好的模块化结构,并且在较高的粘度环境中具有较短的波长适应周围的流体。这种自适应行为来自通过机械力,神经元耦合和感觉反馈机制的组合相互作用的神经模块。但是,这些耦合模式对步态适应的相对贡献尚不清楚。该模型由重复的神经力学模块组成,这些模块通过人体的力学,短距离本体感受和间隙界面组成。该模型在广泛的机械参数上捕获了实验观察到的步态适应性,前提是,神经系统对输入的肌肉反应要比身体对内部和外力变化的反应快。该模型的模块化允许使用弱耦合振荡器的理论来识别身体力学,间隙 - 连接性耦合以及在协调波动步态中的相对作用。分析表明,身体起伏的波长是由这三种耦合形式的相对强度设置的。在低粘度流体环境中,间隙界面和本体感受之间的竞争会产生长的波长起伏,仅在模型中实现了相当强大的间隙连接性耦合。从实验上观察到的波动性下降而在流体粘度上的响应中降低了波动的响应,而促进了相对强度的增强,这促进了相对强度的增加。
Understanding principles of neurolocomotion requires the synthesis of neural activity, sensory feedback, and biomechanics. The nematode \textit{C. elegans} is an ideal model organism for studying locomotion in an integrated neuromechanical setting because its neural circuit has a well-characterized modular structure and its undulatory forward swimming gait adapts to the surrounding fluid with a shorter wavelength in higher viscosity environments. This adaptive behavior emerges from the neural modules interacting through a combination of mechanical forces, neuronal coupling, and sensory feedback mechanisms. However, the relative contributions of these coupling modes to gait adaptation are not understood. The model consists of repeated neuromechanical modules that are coupled through the mechanics of the body, short-range proprioception, and gap-junctions. The model captures the experimentally observed gait adaptation over a wide range of mechanical parameters, provided that the muscle response to input from the nervous system is faster than the body response to changes in internal and external forces. The modularity of the model allows the use of the theory of weakly coupled oscillators to identify the relative roles of body mechanics, gap-junctional coupling, and proprioceptive coupling in coordinating the undulatory gait. The analysis shows that the wavelength of body undulations is set by the relative strengths of these three coupling forms. In a low-viscosity fluid environment, the competition between gap-junctions and proprioception produces a long wavelength undulation, which is only achieved in the model with sufficiently strong gap-junctional coupling.The experimentally observed decrease in wavelength in response to increasing fluid viscosity is the result of an increase in the relative strength of mechanical coupling, which promotes a short wavelength.