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An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”

Paramecium is a large unicellular organism that swims in fresh water using cilia. When stimulated by various means (mechanically, chemically, optically, thermally), it often swims backward then turns and swims forward again in a new direction: this is called the avoiding reaction. This reaction is t...

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Autores principales: Elices, Irene, Kulkarni, Anirudh, Escoubet, Nicolas, Pontani, Léa-Laetitia, Prevost, Alexis Michel, Brette, Romain
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9946239/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36758112
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010899
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author Elices, Irene
Kulkarni, Anirudh
Escoubet, Nicolas
Pontani, Léa-Laetitia
Prevost, Alexis Michel
Brette, Romain
author_facet Elices, Irene
Kulkarni, Anirudh
Escoubet, Nicolas
Pontani, Léa-Laetitia
Prevost, Alexis Michel
Brette, Romain
author_sort Elices, Irene
collection PubMed
description Paramecium is a large unicellular organism that swims in fresh water using cilia. When stimulated by various means (mechanically, chemically, optically, thermally), it often swims backward then turns and swims forward again in a new direction: this is called the avoiding reaction. This reaction is triggered by a calcium-based action potential. For this reason, several authors have called Paramecium the “swimming neuron”. Here we present an empirically constrained model of its action potential based on electrophysiology experiments on live immobilized paramecia, together with simultaneous measurement of ciliary beating using particle image velocimetry. Using these measurements and additional behavioral measurements of free swimming, we extend the electrophysiological model by coupling calcium concentration to kinematic parameters, turning it into a swimming model. In this way, we obtain a model of autonomously behaving Paramecium. Finally, we demonstrate how the modeled organism interacts with an environment, can follow gradients and display collective behavior. This work provides a modeling basis for investigating the physiological basis of autonomous behavior of Paramecium in ecological environments.
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spelling pubmed-99462392023-02-23 An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron” Elices, Irene Kulkarni, Anirudh Escoubet, Nicolas Pontani, Léa-Laetitia Prevost, Alexis Michel Brette, Romain PLoS Comput Biol Research Article Paramecium is a large unicellular organism that swims in fresh water using cilia. When stimulated by various means (mechanically, chemically, optically, thermally), it often swims backward then turns and swims forward again in a new direction: this is called the avoiding reaction. This reaction is triggered by a calcium-based action potential. For this reason, several authors have called Paramecium the “swimming neuron”. Here we present an empirically constrained model of its action potential based on electrophysiology experiments on live immobilized paramecia, together with simultaneous measurement of ciliary beating using particle image velocimetry. Using these measurements and additional behavioral measurements of free swimming, we extend the electrophysiological model by coupling calcium concentration to kinematic parameters, turning it into a swimming model. In this way, we obtain a model of autonomously behaving Paramecium. Finally, we demonstrate how the modeled organism interacts with an environment, can follow gradients and display collective behavior. This work provides a modeling basis for investigating the physiological basis of autonomous behavior of Paramecium in ecological environments. Public Library of Science 2023-02-09 /pmc/articles/PMC9946239/ /pubmed/36758112 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010899 Text en © 2023 Elices et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Elices, Irene
Kulkarni, Anirudh
Escoubet, Nicolas
Pontani, Léa-Laetitia
Prevost, Alexis Michel
Brette, Romain
An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
title An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
title_full An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
title_fullStr An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
title_full_unstemmed An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
title_short An electrophysiological and kinematic model of Paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
title_sort electrophysiological and kinematic model of paramecium, the “swimming neuron”
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9946239/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36758112
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1010899
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