Motor pattern selection - sensory and neuromodulatory influences

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Harald Wolf, since 2/2012
• Subject Area: Molecular Biology and Physiology of Neurons and Glial Cells
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 191323453

The ability to handle an overwhelming amount of sensory input and adequately respond to the situation at hand is the most fascinating property of the nervous system, because it serves to adapt the animal's behavior to the changing requirements of the body and the environment. The flexibility of motor responses often results from a dynamic adaptation of existing motor networks via the actions of neuromodulators that are released from descending pathways originating in higher centers of the nervous system.The proposed project investigates the contribution of descending modulatory neurons to sensorimotor processing and the subsequent selection of adequate motor responses. It is our goal to study the interactions between sensory and modulatory neurons and the representation of proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensory information within the population of these neurons. For our investigation, we will use the well-characterized pattern-generating networks of the stomatogastric nervous system of the crab in which sensory, modulatory and motor neurons are available in manageable numbers and intrinsic and synaptic properties have been identified. The population activity of modulatory neurons will be studied using electrophysiological and optical recordings, both in vivo and in vitro in order to understand the mechanisms used by the nervous system to allocate the appropriate motor responses to defined sensory stimuli. Neuromodulators not only affect motor circuits, nor do they exert only short-term actions. We will thus also study the long-term effects of neuromodulatory influences by characterizing gene expression changes in identified sensory and motor neurons, as well as in the modulatory neurons themselves. Since neuromodulators act ubiquitously throughout all nervous systems, our study aims to better elucidate the general organizing principles underlying sensorimotor processing.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: Imaging system for optical recordings
• Instrumentation Group: 5040 Spezielle Mikroskope (außer 500-503)
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Stein, until 2/2012