Heiligenberg W
Neurobiology Unit, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla 92093.
Synapse. 1990;6(2):196-206. doi: 10.1002/syn.890060212.
A close integration of behavioral, neurophysiological, and neuroanatomical approaches has guided research on the neural basis of electrosensation and the generation of behaviors associated with this modality. By postulating neuronal implementations of specific computations in sensory information processing, behavioral studies have been crucial in focusing studies at the neuronal level onto behaviorally relevant structural and functional aspects. Physiological and anatomical studies have analyzed a) neural networks underlying the distributed processing of sensory information, b) the role of descending recurrent pathways and efference copy mechanisms for the filtering of incoming information, c) the significance of multiple topographic representations for sensory information processing, and d) the modulation of sensory and motor structures through various transmitters and receptor subtypes. Developmental studies have explored the significance of steroid hormones for the tuning of electroreceptors to the frequency of an endogenous neuronal oscillator which drives the electric current pulses necessary for their stimulation. Embryological studies have revealed that the development of mechanoreceptors and electroreceptors in the fish's skin is induced by the innervation of primary afferent nerve fibers which are specific with regard to their central connections as well as with regard to the type of receptor induced in the periphery.
行为学、神经生理学和神经解剖学方法的紧密结合，为关于电感觉的神经基础以及与这种感觉方式相关的行为产生的研究提供了指导。通过假设感觉信息处理中特定计算的神经元实现方式，行为学研究在将神经元层面的研究聚焦于与行为相关的结构和功能方面起到了关键作用。生理学和解剖学研究分析了：a）感觉信息分布式处理背后的神经网络；b）下行递归通路和传出副本机制在过滤传入信息中的作用；c）多种拓扑表征对感觉信息处理的意义；d）各种递质和受体亚型对感觉和运动结构的调节。发育学研究探讨了类固醇激素对于将电感受器调谐到驱动其刺激所需电流脉冲的内源性神经元振荡器频率的重要性。胚胎学研究表明，鱼类皮肤中机械感受器和电感受器的发育是由初级传入神经纤维的支配诱导的，这些神经纤维在其中心连接以及在外周诱导的受体类型方面具有特异性。
