Qin Jierui, Yang Tingting, Li Kexin, Liu Ting, Zhang Wei
School of Life Sciences, IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Tsinghua-Peking Center for Life Science, Beijing, China.
Elife. 2024 Dec 4;12:RP88614. doi: 10.7554/eLife.88614.
As the early step of food ingestion, the swallow is under rigorous sensorimotor control. Nevertheless, the mechanisms underlying swallow control at a molecular and circuitry level remain largely unknown. Here, we find that mutation of the mechanotransduction channel genes , or impairs the regular pumping rhythm of the cibarium during feeding of the fruit fly . A group of multi-dendritic mechanosensory neurons, which co-express the three channels, wrap the cibarium and are crucial for coordinating the filling and emptying of the cibarium. Inhibition of them causes difficulty in food emptying in the cibarium, while their activation leads to difficulty in cibarium filling. Synaptic and functional connections are detected between the pharyngeal mechanosensory neurons and the motor circuit that controls swallow. This study elucidates the role of mechanosensation in swallow, and provides insights for a better understanding of the neural basis of food swallow.
作为食物摄取的早期步骤，吞咽受到严格的感觉运动控制。然而，在分子和神经回路水平上控制吞咽的机制在很大程度上仍然未知。在这里，我们发现机械转导通道基因、或的突变会损害果蝇进食期间下咽的正常抽吸节律。一组共同表达这三种通道的多树突状机械感觉神经元包裹着下咽，对于协调下咽的充盈和排空至关重要。对它们的抑制会导致下咽食物排空困难，而对它们的激活会导致下咽充盈困难。在咽部机械感觉神经元和控制吞咽的运动回路之间检测到突触和功能连接。这项研究阐明了机械感觉在吞咽中的作用，并为更好地理解食物吞咽的神经基础提供了见解。
