Morphology of a new population of spiking local interneurones in the locust metathoracic ganglion

1989 ◽  
Vol 283 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshiki Nagayama
1970 ◽  
Vol 102 (9) ◽  
pp. 1163-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. D. Seabrook

AbstractSchistocerca gregaria possess four neurones of giant fibre proportions within the abdominal ventral nerve cord. These fibres arise from single cell bodies in the terminal ganglionic mass and pass without interruption to the metathoracic ganglion. Fibres become reduced in diameter when passing through a ganglion. Branching of the giant fibres occurs in abdominal ganglia 6 and 7.


1961 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 545-558 ◽  
Author(s):  
NOBUO SUGA ◽  
YASUJI KATSUKI

1. The impulses from the tympanic organ are transmitted at the prothoracic ganglion to a central neuron, the auditory T large fibre, which lies in the cord between the brain and the metathoracic ganglion. The impulses in the T large fibre are conducted rostrally and caudally with the same discharge pattern. Information is sent up to the brain, and down to the metathoracic ganglion, after a delay of about 12 msec. 2. The impulses from the cercal hair sensilla are transmitted to two similar auditory C large fibres which lie in the cord between the metathoracic and last (6th) abdominal ganglia and are then sent up to the mesothoracic ganglia by other auditory large fibres. 3. Central inhibitory interaction between the impulses from the tympanic nerves of the two sides are shown by a marked increase of impulses in the T large fibre following section of one of the tympanic nerves. No inhibitory interaction is found between the impulses from the two cercal nerves. 4. The auditory T large fibre receives not only the excitatory effect from the ipsilateral tympanic nerve at the prothoracic ganglion, but also the inhibitory and weak excitatory effects from the contralateral one. 5. The response range of the T large fibre is narrower than the threshold curve of the tympanic nerve and corresponds with one type of response range in the tympanic neurons. The response ranges of the C large fibres correspond closely with the threshold curve of the cercal nerve. 6. A large difference in threshold between the two T large fibres is found in the response to sound incident from the side. The number of impulses in the T large fibre nearer to the sound source is greater than in that farther from the source. 7. The difference in the number of impulses between the two T large fibres is most marked in the response to sound of the frequency which is dominant in stridulation. This difference is due to the mutual inhibitory interaction of neurons which modifies the number of impulses without changing the threshold of the tympanic large fibre. 8. It is suggested that the central inhibitory interaction increases the information about a sound source and plays an important role in the mechanism of the directional sense. 9. The stridulation of the group activates the tympanic nerve and evokes synchronized discharge in the T large fibre, but scarcely at all in the primary C large fibre. The tympanic organ and its neural network seem well adapted to reception of stridulation. 10. It is concluded that though neither of the two sound receptive organs--the tympanic organ and the cercal hair sensilla--can perform frequency analysis, the insect may be able to do so by making use of both organs, since they have different frequency ranges and are served by different auditory large-fibre tracts.


1982 ◽  
Vol 96 (1) ◽  
pp. 325-341
Author(s):  
MALCOLM BURROWS

Simultaneous intracellular recordings have been made from the two expiratory, and from the two inspiratory motor neurones which have their axons in the unpaired median nerves of the thoracic ganglia. Each motor neurone has an axon that branches to innervate muscles on the left and on the right side of one segment. The expiratory neurones studied were those in the meso- and meta-thoracic ganglia which innervate spiracular closer muscles. The depolarizing synaptic potentials underlying the spikes during expiration are common to the two closer motor neurones in a particular segment. Similarly, during inspiration when there are usually no spikes, the hyperpolarizing, inhibitory potentials are also common to both motor neurones. The synaptic input to the neurones can be derived from four interneurones; two responsible for the depolarizing potentials during expiration and two for the inhibitory potentials during inspiration. The inspiratory neurones studied were those in the abdominal ganglia fused to the metathoracic ganglion which innervate dorso-ventral abdominal muscles. During inspiration the two motor neurones of one segment spike at a similar and steady frequency. The underlying synaptic input to the two is common. During expiration, when there are usually no spikes, the hyperpolarizing synaptic potentials are also common to both neurones. In addition they match exactly the depolarizing potentials occurring at the same time in the closer motor neurones. The same set of interneurones could be responsible. No evidence has been revealed to indicate that the two closer, or the two inspiratory motor neurones of one segment are directly coupled by electrical or chemical synapses. The morphology of both types of motor neurone is distinct from that of other motor neurones in these ganglia. Both types branch extensively in both the left and in the right areas of the neuropile.


1980 ◽  
Vol 86 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61
Author(s):  
G. F. GWILLIAM ◽  
M. BURROWS

1. The electrical properties of the membrane of an identified locust motor neurone, the fast extensor tibiae in the metathoracic ganglion, have been investigated to determine: the distribution of excitable and inexcitable membrane; the impulse initiation zone; and the conduction velocity of the spike in the ganglion and in the axon. 2. The waveform of extracellularly recorded spikes indicates that the transition from inactive to active membrane occurs along the region of the neurite which bears many arborizations within the neuropile. 3. Measurements of the delay between orthodromically or antidromically evoked spikes, recorded at the soma and other points along the neurite, place the impulse initiating zone close to the transition between active and inactive membrane. 4. Within the ganglion, the spike is conducted at different velocities over different parts of the neurite. The average velocity within the ganglion is, however, only about a seventh of that in the axon (0.54 m.s−1 against 4.1 m.s−1).


1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 923-932 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Parker

1. The effects of the putative endogenous neuromodulator serotonin (5-HT) on the fast extensor and flexor tibiae motor neurons in the locust (Schistocerca gregaria) metathoracic ganglion, were analyzed. 2. 5-HT consistently increased the duration of the fast extensor spike and usually reduced the afterhyperpolarization, although this effect was less consistent. The spike broadening in the fast extensor was associated with an increase in the amplitude of the excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) evoked monosynaptically in the flexor motor neurons by fast extensor stimulation. 5-HT also increased the membrane resistance of the fast extensor and flexor tibiae motor neurons. 3. The effects of 5-HT were mimicked by bath application of the 5-HT uptake inhibitor imipramine, and blocked by the 5-HT receptor antagonist ketanserin. The effects were also mimicked by dibutryl cyclic AMP, a membrane permeant analogue of cyclic AMP, and by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methyl-xanthine, but not by dibutryl cyclic GMP. The 5-HT-dependent modulation was blocked by the protein kinase A inhibitor H8. In addition, injection of cyclic AMP into the fast extensor or a flexor motor neuron could mimic the effects of 5-HT on these neurons. 4. 5-HT probably broadened the FETi action potential by modulating potassium conductances responsible for spike repolarization. 5. These results show that 5-HT modulates both the fast extensor and flexor tibiae motor neurons, resulting in potentiation of synaptic transmission between these neurons. In addition, the increase in flexor membrane resistance will potentiate other inputs onto these cells, which will affect the output of the motor neurons during locomotion.


1972 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 647-656
Author(s):  
J. F. ILES

1. Using Procion Yellow dye injection the structure of the fast coxal depressor motoneurone was determined. 2. The cell body of the slow depressor motoneurone was located within the metathoracic ganglion. 3. Intracellular records from the fast motoneurone failed to reveal any post-synaptic response when the largest abdominal giant fibres were stimulated. 4. Smaller abdominal afferent fibres gave an excitatory input.


1998 ◽  
Vol 201 (12) ◽  
pp. 1885-1893 ◽  
Author(s):  
K Sasaki ◽  
M Burrows

The flexor tibiae muscle of a locust hind leg consists of 10-11 pairs of fibre bundles in the main body of the muscle and a distal pair of bundles that form the accessory flexor muscle, all of which insert onto a common tendon. It is much smaller than the antagonistic extensor tibiae muscle and yet it is innervated by nine excitatory motor neurons, compared with only two for the extensor. To determine the pattern of innervation within the muscle by individual motor neurons, branches of the nerve (N5B2) that supplies the different muscle bundles were backfilled to reveal somata in the metathoracic ganglion. This showed that different muscle bundles are innervated by different numbers of excitatory motor neurons. Physiological mapping of the innervation was then carried out by intracellular recordings from the somata of flexor motor neurons in the metathoracic ganglion using microelectrodes. Spikes were evoked in these neurons by the injection of current, and matching junctional potentials were sought in fibres throughout the muscle using a second intracellular electrode. Each motor neuron innervates only a restricted array of muscle fibres and, although some innervate a larger array than others, none innervates fibres throughout the muscle. Some motor neurons innervate only proximal fibres and others only more distal fibres, so that the most proximal and most distal bundles of muscle fibres are innervated by non-overlapping sets of motor neurons. More motor neurons innervate proximal bundles than distal ones, and there are some asymmetries in the number of motor neurons innervating corresponding bundles on either side of the tendon. Individual motor neurons cause slow, fast or intermediate movements of the tibia, but their patterns of innervation overlap in the different muscle bundles. Furthermore, individual muscle fibres may also be innervated by motor neurons with different properties.


1978 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 885-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Fourtner ◽  
C. D. Drewes ◽  
T. W. Holzmann

1. In 132 cockroaches the main leg nerve on one side (right), of the metathoracic segment was crossed to the opposite (left) side and allowed to regenerate. In 3-8 wk, 59% of the animals displayed reflex activity in the left leg (behaviorally demonstrated by leg withdrawal following tarsal stimulation). 2. EMGs from the femoral extensor revealed potentials characteristic of normal activity in the extensor, which is innervated by an identified motor neuron, Ds. 3. Intracellular recordings from processes within the right hemiganglion of the metathoracic ganglion (CNS) demonstrated 1:1 activity between a unit in the CNS recording and the EMG of the left extensor. Subsequent intracellular staining revealed that the unit was on the right side of the CNS and was identified as motor neuron Ds by the location of its soma and dendrites. This finding indicated that specific, contralateral, efferent reinnervation occurs in the cockroach. 4. In normal cockroaches a monosynaptic reflex exists between hair plate afferents and Ds. A temporal analysis (stimulus-interval histogram) indicated that the reflex is also established in the crossed-regenerated animals. These data suggested that specific contralateral afferent reinnervation also occurs in the cockroach and that the monosynaptic nature of the normal reflex was reestablished. 5. Therefore, cell-to-cell specificity in neuron-to-neuron or neuron-to-muscle interactions not only occurs in normally developing or regenerating animals but also occurs between contralaterally homologous target cells, given the proper experimental conditions. It is also suggested that this experimental procedure of redesigning pathways may be a useful tool for further studies of behavior.


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