Fruit flies walking on minature treadmills are helping scientists learn how the nervous system enables animals to move in an unpredictable and complex world. The researchers engineered these small-scale machines from inexpensive parts.
The treadmills are used in studies of how fruit flies recognize and deal with unexpected changes underfoot while they are walking.
How does the nervous system detect these unexpected events and control the body to regain balance during locomotion? That question is being explored in John Tuthill's laboratory at the UW Department of Physiology and Biophysics, where Tuthill is an associate professor and Pratt conducted his doctoral research. Lab colleagues Su-Yee J. Lee and Grant M. Chou also contributed to this project.
Split-belt treadmills have two belts that move independently. Researchers use them to investigate how the coordination between the legs adapts when the legs on the left side of the body move at a different speed than those on the right. These treadmills have played a clinical role in evaluating stroke patients.
"They were able to surpass an instantaneous walking speed of 50 millimeters per second," the researchers noted. The scientists noted that,"These insights illustrate how treadmills fill an important gap between free-walking and tethered preparations for investigating neural and behavioral mechanisms for fly locomotion."
Animals Insects (Including Butterflies) Biotechnology And Bioengineering Biotechnology Behavioral Science Biochemistry Research Biology
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