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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...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2023
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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. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9946239 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
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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