Physiological and pharmacological properties of responses to GABA and ACh by abdominal motor neurons in Manduca sexta

1. GABA, ACh, and other agents were applied by pressure ejection to the neuropil of the third abdominal ganglion in the isolated nerve cord of Manduca sexta. Intersegmental muscle motor neurons with dendritic arborizations in the same hemiganglion were inhibited by GABA (Fig. 2) and excited by ACh (Fig. 5).
2. Picrotoxin was a potent antagonist of GABA (Fig. 4A). Bicuculline reduced GABA responses in some motor neurons (Fig. 4C), but had no effect on many other motor neurons. Curare reduced ACh responses (Fig. 6A). Bicuculline was an effective ACh antagonist in most motor neurons tested (Fig. 6B).
3. Motor neurons with dendrites across the ganglion from the ejection pipette exhibited different responses to GABA and ACh. Contralateral motor neurons often showed smaller, delayed hyperpolarizing GABA responses (Fig. 7). On two occasions, contralateral motor neurons had excitatory responses (Fig. 8). Contralateral motor neurons were hyperpolarized by ACh (Fig. 9). The inhibitory responses had only slightly longer latencies than ipsilateral excitatory ACh responses (Fig. 10A). The contralateral inhibitory ACh responses, but not the ipsilateral excitatory ACh responses, were eliminated by TTX (Fig. 10B).
4. A model, which includes inhibitory interneurons that cross the ganglionic midline to inhibit their contralateral homologs and motor neurons (Fig. 11), is proposed to account for contralateral responses to GABA and ACh and antagonistic patterns of activity of motor neurons during mechanosensory reflex responses.

     

Descending input from the vestibulolateral cerebellum suppresses electrosensory responses in the dorsal octavolateralis nucleus of the elasmobranch,Raja erinacea

1. The dorsal octavolateralis nucleus is the primary electrosensory nucleus in elasmobranchs and receives a major descending input from the dorsal granular ridge (DGR), a part of the vestibulolateral cerebellum. Removal of DGR altered the response properties of ascending efferent neurons (AENs), the projection neurons of the dorsal octavolateralis nucleus.
2. Elimination of DGR by lesion or lidocaine microinjection increased the excitability in AENs. Spontaneous activity increased by 680% and receptive fields became 1300% larger. The sensitivity of AENs to electric field stimuli increased by 560% and the time constant of adaptation increased by 300%, while threshold sensitivity remained unchanged.
3. Some electrosensory units responded to proprioceptive stimuli. In intact animals, the spontaneous activity of AENs was much less modulated by changes in fin position than primary electroreceptor afferents. Lesions to DGR appeared to increase the responsiveness of AENs to changes in fin position.
4. These results indicate that the action of DGR on the dorsal octavolateralis nucleus is primarily inhibitory and may function in a gain control mechanism. The possibility also exists for a mechanical-reafferent reduction mechanism in the electrosensory system of the elasmobranch that may be mediated by DGR.

     

Multisensory control of escape in the cockroach Periplaneta americana

1. All giant interneurons (GIs) were ablated from the nerve cord of cockroaches by electrocautery, and escape behavior was analyzed with high-speed videography. Animals with ablations retained the ability to produce wind-triggered escape, although response latency was increased (Table 1, Fig. 4). Subsequent lesions suggested that these non-GI responses depended in part on receptors associated with the antennae.
2. Antennal and cereal systems were compared by analyzing escape responses after amputating either cerci or antennae. With standard wind stimuli (high peak velocity) animals responded after either lesion. With lower intensity winds, animals lost their ability to respond after cereal removal (Fig. 6).
3. Removal of antennae did not cause significant changes in behavioral latency, but in the absence of cerci, animals responded at longer latencies than normal (Fig. 7).
4. The cercal-to-GI system can mediate short latency responses to high or low intensity winds, while the antennal system is responsive to high intensity winds only and operates at relatively longer latencies. These conclusions drawn from lesioned animals were confirmed in intact animals with restricted wind targeting the cerci or antennae only (Fig. 9).
5. The antennae do not represent a primary wind-sensory system, but may have a direct mechanosensory role in escape.

     

Modulation of swimming in Tritonia: excitatory and inhibitory effects of serotonin

1. In the mollusc Tritonia escape swimming is produced by a network of central pattern generator (CPG) neurons. The purpose of this study was to determine which neurotransmitters might be involved in the swim system.
2. Injection of serotonin (5HT) into whole animals elicited swimming followed by a long-lasting inhibition of swimming. In isolated brain preparations, bath-applied 5HT elicited a swim pattern at short latency and also caused a long-lasting inhibition of the swim pattern. The activation of swimming by 5HT was associated with a tonic depolarization of cerebral cell 2 (C2) and the dorsal swim interneurons (DSI) which form part of the swim CPG network.
3. In isolated brain preparations, bath applied glycine, histamine, proctolin, and FMFRamide had no effect on the swim motor pattern elicited by electrical stimulation of a peripheral nerve. Aspartate, carbacol, dopamine, glutamate, octopamine, pilocarpine, and small cardioactive peptide-B (SCP_B) inhibited the activation of swimming by nerve stimulation.
4. The 5HT antagonists cyproheptidine, tryptamine, and 7-methyltryptamine had no effect on swimming, but methysergide and fenfluramine inhibited swimming to both normal sensory stimuli and exogenously applied 5HT.
5. Staining with a polyclonal antibody indicated that one class of CPG neurons, the dorsal swim interneurons (DSI), was immunoreactive for 5HT.
6. Taken together, the data suggest that pattern generator interneurons, particularly the DSIs, use 5HT as a neurotransmitter.

     

Quantitative assessment of song-selectivity in the zebra finch “high vocal center”

1. Auditory responses in the zebra finch (Taenopygia guttata) song-system nucleus HVc were assessed at 54 recording sites by 3 different methods: discriminated action potentials; excitatory summed responses; and excitatory minus inhibitory summed responses. Four standard stimuli were presented at each site: the bird's own song; this song reversed; a conspecific song; and a noise burst. Responses were quantified by calculating a relative response index that partitioned the response, to provide a response profile, across the stimuli.
2. Regardless of analysis method, the strongest response was most often to the bird's own song (78–82%, depending on method). The predominant rank order of response strength across the remaining three stimuli was conspecific song > reversed song > noise.
3. The distribution of relative response magnitude was sensitive to analysis method. Discriminated spikes captured the heterogeneity of HVc neurons, whereas the excitatory summed responses reflected the overall trends more consistently. When inhibition was subtracted from excitation in the summed responses, the variance of the relative responses increased, but this method presented some problems for statistical analysis.
4. A small sample of neurons in other forebrain auditory areas was used for comparative analyses. At these recording sites, the bird's own song did not consistently elicit the best response and there were generally smaller differences in the relative responses to the four stimuli. The smaller degree of stimulus selectivity among these cells resulted in less sensitivity to differences in the assessment methods.

     

Neuronal and glial localization of NMDA receptors in the cerebral cortex

The crucial role of glutamate receptors of theN-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) type in many fundamental cortical functions has been firmly established, as has its involvement in several neuropsychiatric diseases, but until recently, very little was known of the anatomical localization of NMDA receptors in the cerebral cortex of mammals. The recent application of molecular biological techniques to the study of NMDA receptors has allowed the production of specific tools, the use of which has much increased our understanding of the localization of NMDA receptors in the cerebral cortex. In particular, immunocytochemical studies on the distribution of cortical NMDA receptors have:

1. Demonstrated the preferential localization of NMDA receptors in dendritic spines, in line with previous work;
2. Disclosed a thus far unknown fraction of presynaptic NMDA receptors on both excitatory and inhibitory axon terminals; and
3. Shown that cortical astrocytes express NMDA receptors.

These studies indicate that the effects of cortical NMDA receptor activation are not caused exclusively by the opening of NMDA channels on neuronal postsynaptic membranes, as previously assumed, and that the activation of presynaptic and glial NMDA receptors can contribute significantly to these effects.     

The cerebellar dorsal granular ridge in an elasmobranch has proprioceptive and electroreceptive representations and projects homotopically to the medullary electrosensory nucleus

1. Response properties of neurons in the dorsal granular ridge (DGR) of the little skate, Raja erinacea, were studied in decerebrate, curarized fish. Sensory responses included proprioceptive (426 of 952; 45%) and electroreceptive units (526 of 952; 55%). Electroreceptive units responded to weak electric fields with a higher threshold than lower-order units and had large ipsilateral receptive fields, whose exact boundaries were often unclear but contained smaller, identifiable best areas. Proprioceptive units responded to displacement of the ipsilateral fin and were either position-or movement-sensitive.
2. Both proprioceptive and electroreceptive units showed a progression of receptive fields from anterior to posterior body in the rostral to caudal direction along the length of DGR. Sensory maps in DGR projected homotopically to the electrosensory somatotopy in the dorsal nucleus. Peak evoked potentials and units responding to local DGR stimulation occurred only in areas of the dorsal nucleus with receptive fields located within the composite receptive field at the DGR stimulation site.
3. Single shocks to DGR produced a short spike train followed by a prolonged suppression period in the medullary dorsal nucleus. These results have implications for the role of the parallel fiber system in medullary electrosensory processing.

     

Independently evolved jamming avoidance responses employ identical computational algorithms: a behavioral study of the African electric fish,Gymnarchus niloticus

An African electric fish, Gymnarchus, and a South American electric fish, Eigenmannia, are believed to have evolved their electrosensory systems independently. Both fishes, nevertheless, gradually shift the frequency of electric organ discharge away when they encounter a neighbor of a similar discharge frequency. Computational algorithms employed by Gymnarchus for this jamming avoidance response have been identified in this study for comparison with those of extensively studied Eigenmannia.

1. Gymnarchus determines whether it should raise or lower its discharge frequency based solely upon the signal mixture of its own reafferent and the exafferent signal from a neighbor, and does not internally refer to the pacemaker command signal which drives its own discharge.
2. The signal mixture is analyzed in terms of the time courses of amplitude modulation and phase modulation at each area of the body surface.
3. Phase of the signal mixture at each area is compared with that of another area for the detection of phase modulation.
4. Unambiguous information necessary for the jamming avoidance response is extracted by integrating information from all body areas each of which yields ambiguous information.
5. These computational features are identical to those of Eigenmannia, suggesting that the neural circuit for jamming avoidance responses may have evolved from preexisting mechanisms for electrolocation in both fishes.

     

Discrimination of phase spectra in complex sounds by the bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana)

1. Male bullfrogs at two different natural calling sites were presented with playbacks of synthetic advertisement calls differing in phase spectra. Sounds were presented in a ABA design to analyze the ability of the animals to perceive changes in repeated series of stimuli.
2. The number of individual croaks in an answering call significantly increased over repeated presentations of two of the three stimulus phase types in condition A1. There were significantly fewer croaks to the third stimulus. These data suggest that two stimuli were perceived in a similar manner.
3. Latency of calling to stimuli presented in conditions A and B changed in response to shifts in phase spectrum at a low density calling site. These differences were significant when comparing latency to playbacks where shifts in the phase spectrum changed the temporal fine-structure and waveform periodicity of the stimulus.
4. The increase in number of croaks and decrease in response latency across condition A1 and the increase in latency in condition B suggest that discrimination may take the form of stimulus-specific sensitization. In this context, sensitization might reflect an increase in arousal due to repeated presentation of a salient stimulus.
5. The operation of a hypothetical ‘mating call detector,’ based on linear summation of temporal responses from the eighth nerve, provides output similar to the behavioral results.

     

Neurotransmitters of cephalopods

1. ACh, dopamine, noradrenaline, 5-HT,l-glutamate, and GABA are widely distributed in cephalopods and probably all function as neurotransmitters; octopamine also occurs and at one site is known to act as a neuromodulator.
2. Several peptides are also present, as well as nitric oxide synthase.
3. In the brain and sense organs cholinergic, aminergic, serotonergic and glutamatergic systems seem to be the most important.
4. ACh is also active in the gut, vascular system and some body muscles: it is generally inhibitory. The ACh receptors are similar to the vertebrate nicotinic type.
5. The catecholamines are important in the gut and vascular system: they are generally excitatory. The NA receptors are like the α-adrenergic subtype of vertebrates, but the nature of the DA and OA receptors is less certain.
6. 5-HT is important in the gut but is endogenous in some chromatophore nerves and acts on receptors that seem like the vertebrate 5-HT₁ type.
7. l-glutamate is an excitatory transmitter at the chromatophore (and probably at other) nerve-muscle junctions and is an extremely strong candidate for being the excitatory transmitter at the squid giant synapse. There are NMDA receptors on Schwann-cells but the receptors on neurons and muscles are like the vertebrate kainate type.
8. Little is known about the mode of action of cephalopod peptides; nor has it ever been shown that they co-exist with conventional transmitters in these animals.
9. The structure of one (FMRFamide) receptor has been elucidated, but apart from this nothing is known of the molecular biology of receptors in cephalopods.

     

Multiple effects of an identified proprioceptor upon gastric pattern generation in spiny lobsters

1. Using deafferented preparations of the stomatogastric nervous system of spiny lobsters (Panulirus interruptus), we stimulated the central soma of the Anterior Gastric Receptor neuron (AGR) and analyzed sensorimotor integration in the gastric central pattern generator during rhythm production.
2. Driving AGR to spike tonically at lower frequencies (10–20 /s) accelerated the gastric rhythm, while higher frequencies (>30 /s) suppressed it.
3. Shorter spike trains in AGR evoked phase-dependent resetting of the gastric rhythm. Repetitive trains could entrain rhythms to both longer and shorter cycle periods. Some pattern-generating effects are consistent with effects upon the lateral gastric neuron, an influential member of the gastric mill network.
4. AGR affected the burst intensity of many of the gastric neurons in specific, complex ways. Some powerstroke motor neurons were excited because AGR activated excitatory, premotor interneurons (E cells). However, AGR also activated parallel, seemingly inhibitory inputs, whose mechanism remains unclear. Still other effects on motor neurons may be mediated partly by synaptic interactions within the network.
5. AGR adjusts the timing, strength and coordination of bursts in the motor innervation of all three teeth of the gastric mill, and may act to optimize the force of chewing to different consistencies of food.

     

Wind-evoked evasive responses in flying cockroaches

1. A standing cockroach (Periplaneta americana) responds to the air displacement made by an approaching predator, by turning away and running. The wind receptors on the cerci, two posterior sensory appendages, excite a group of ventral giant interneurons that mediate this response. While flying, these interneurons remain silent, owing to strong inhibition; however, the dorsal giant interneurons respond strongly to wind. Using behavioral and electromyographic analysis, we sought to determine whether flying cockroaches also turn away from air displacement like that produced by an approaching flying predator; and if so, whether the cerci and dorsal giant interneurons mediate this response.
2. When presented with a wind puff from the side, a flying cockroach carries out a variety of maneuvers that would cause a rapid turn away and perhaps a dive. These are not evoked if the cerci are ablated (Figs. 4, 5, 6).
3. This evasive response appears to be mediated by a circuit separate from that mediating escape when the cockroach is standing (Fig. 7).
4. The dorsal giant interneurons respond during flight in a directional manner that is suited to mediate this behavior (Fig. 8).
5. Recordings of the wind produced by a moving model predator (Fig. 9), together with measurements of the behavioral latency of tethered cockroaches, suggest that the evasive response would begin just milliseconds before a predator actually arrives. However, as explained in the Discussion section, under natural conditions, the evasive response may well begin earlier, and could indeed be useful in escaping from predators.
6. If cockroaches had a wind-mediated yaw-correcting behavior, as locusts have, this could conflict with the wind-evoked escape. In fact, cockroaches show the opposite, yaw-enhancing response, mediated by the cerci, that does not present a conflict with escape (Figs. 10–14).

     

Cocaine kindling in mice

Previous studies proposed the involvement of theN-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) type of glutamate receptors in the development of sensitization to the convulsive effect of cocaine (cocaine kindling). The present study was undertaken to determine, first, if cocaine kindling is associated with enhanced sensitivity of the NMDA receptor to the convulsive response ofN-methyl-D,L-aspartate (NMDLA), and second, whether in vivo modulation of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) function regulates the development of cocaine kindling. The following results were observed:

1. Cocaine-kindled animals were significantly more susceptible to the convulsive effect of the NMDA receptor agonist NMDLA than saline controls;
2. Pretreatment with the NOS inhibitor N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME; 100 mg/kg; ip) blocked the development of cocaine kindling;
3. The protective effect of L-NAME was partially reversed with the coadministration of the NOS substrate,L-arginine (300 mg/kg; ip), but notD-arginine; and
4. L-Arginine (300 mg/kg; ip), but notD-arginine, amplified the development of cocaine kindling. Taken together, these findings suggest that supersensitivity of the NMDA receptor and activation of NOS may underlie the development of cocaine kindling.

     

Response characteristics of wide-field non-habituating non-directional motion detecting neurons in the optic lobe of the locust,Locusta migratoria

1. Extracellular recordings from wide-field nonhabituating non-directional (ND) motion detecting neurons in the second optic chiasma of the locust Locusta migratoria are presented. The responses to various types of stepwise moving spot and bar stimuli were monitored (Fig. 1)
2. Stepwise motion in all directions elicited bursts of spikes. The response is inhibited at stimulus velocities above 5°/s. At velocities above 10°/s the ND neurons are slightly more sensitive to motion in the horizontal direction than to motion in the vertical direction (Fig. 2). The ND cells have a preference for small moving stimuli (Fig. 3).
3. The motion response has two peaks. The latency of the second peak depends on stimulus size and stimulus velocity. Increasing the height from 0.1 to 23.5° of a 5°/s moving bar results in a lowering of this latency time from 176 to 130 ms (Fig. 4). When the velocity from a single 0.1° spot is increased from 1 to 16°/s, the latency decreases from 282 to 180 ms (Figs. 5–6).
4. A change-of-direction sensitivity is displayed. Stepwise motion in one particular direction produces a continuous burst of spike discharges. Reversal or change in direction leads to an inhibition of the response (Fig. 7).
5. It shows that non-directional motion perception of the wide-field ND cells can simply be explained by combining self-and lateral inhibition.

     

Selective phonotaxis to advertisement calls in the gray treefrog Hyla versicolor: behavioral experiments and neurophysiological correlates

1. The significance of particular acoustic properties of advertisement calls for selective phonotaxis by the gray treefrog, Hyla versicolor (= HV), was studied behaviorally and neurophysiologically. Most stimuli were played back at 85 dB SPL, a level typically measured at 1–2 m from a calling male.
2. Females preferred stimuli with conspecific pulse shapes at 20° and 24°C, but not at 16°C. Tests with normal and time-reversed pulses indicated the preferences were not influenced by the minor differences in the long-term spectra of pulses of different shape.
3. Pulse shape and rate had synergistic or antagonistic effects on female preferences depending on whether the values of one or both of these properties in alternative stimuli were typical of those in HV or heterospecific (H. chrysoscelis = HC) calls.
4. More auditory neurons in the torus semicircularis were temporally selective to synthetic calls (90%) than to sinusoidally AM tones and noise (< 70%).
5. Band-pass neurons were tuned to AM rates of 15–60 Hz. Neurons were more likely to be tuned to HV AM rates ( < 40 Hz) when stimuli had pulses with HV rather than HC shapes.
6. Sharp temporal tuning was uncommon and found only in neurons with band-pass or low-pass characteristics.
7. Many neurons differed significantly in response to HV and HC stimulus sets. Maximum spike rate was more often elicited by an HV stimulus (74%) than by an HC stimulus (24%).
8. Differences in spike rates elicited by HV and HC stimuli were attributable to combinations of differences in the rise times and shapes of the pulses.

     

Morphological and physiological properties of pheromone-triggered flipflopping descending interneurons of the male silkworm moth,Bombyx mori

1. The morphology of descending interneurons (DNs) which have arborizations in the lateral accessory lobe (LAL) of the protocerebrum, the higher order olfactory center, and have an axon in the ventral nerve cord (VNC), were characterized in the male silkworm moth, Bombyx mori.
2. Two clusters (group I, group II) of DNs which have arborizations mainly in the LALs were morphologically characterized. The axons of these DNs are restricted to the dorsal part of the each connective (Figs. 1–5).
3. Pheromonal responses of the group I and group II DNs were characterized. Flipflopping activity patterns, which have two distinct firing frequencies (high and low) in response to sequential pheromonal stimulation, were usually recorded (Figs.6–10).
4. Two types of flipflopping activity patterns were classified into those that had an antiphasic relationship (called the ‘FF’ type) between the left and right connectives and those with a synchronized relationship (‘ff’ type) (Figs. 8–12). We propose that some group II DNs show ‘FF’ flipflopping activity patterns (Fig. 10).
5. A state transition was usually elicited by less than 10 ng bombykol, the principal pheromone component. Extra impulses were elicited during constant light stimulation (Fig. 9).
6. Our results suggest that the LAL olfactory pathways might be important for producing flipflopping activity patterns (Fig. 11).

     

Effect of external factors on phototaxis of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

1. A fully automated phototaxis monitoring device is described for measuring photo-topatactic responses of flagellated organisms.
2. Photokinesis can be demonstrated in Chlamydomonas cells only after a dark period of about 72 hrs.
3. Pre-darkening of a few hours duration raises the phototactic disposition, whereas pre-illumination has no significant effect.
4. Circadian rhythms can be initiated by only one period of darkness or lower light intensity, whereas a period of higher intensity does not induce rhythms. The period length of the circadian rhythms is about 24 hrs.

     

Amino acid receptor sites in the facial taste system of the sea catfish Arius felis

1. The amino acid sensitivity and specificity of the facial taste system of the marine catfish, Arius felis, is characterized electrophysiologically.
2. The facial taste system of Arius felis responded to all 28 amino acids tested, but was highly sensitive to only a few. In general, acidic amino acids and neutral amino acids with short side chains were more effective than imino, basic and neutral amino acids with long side chains.
3. A reciprocal cross-adaptation protocol used to characterize the receptor sites identified at least some relatively independent receptor sites for L-arginine, L-histidine, L-proline, L-alanine, glycine, D-alanine and L-glutamate.
4. Of the 7 amino acids that were indicated to have relatively independent receptor sites, the median electrophysiological threshold for L-alanine, the most stimulatory, and L-proline, the least stimulatory compounds, were 10 nM and 10,000 nM, respectively. The integrated facial taste response did not saturate at test amino acid concentrations up to 10 mM.
5. The generalized depression in responsiveness to test stimuli observed during amino acid adaptation is proposed to be a result of the co-distribution of sensitivity at the level of single taste cells rather than high cross-reactivity of the respective amino acid receptor sites for the test stimuli.

     

Colour preferences of flower-naive honeybees

Flower-naive honeybees Apis mellifera L. flying in an enclosure were tested for their colour preferences. Bees were rewarded once on an achromatic (grey, aluminium or hardboard), or on a chromatic (ultraviolet) disk. Since naive bees never alighted on colour stimuli alone, a scent was given in combination with colour. Their landings on twelve colour stimuli were recorded. Results after one reward (“first test”) were analysed separately from those obtained after few rewards (“late tests”).

1. After pre-training to achromatic signals, bees preferred, in the first test, bee-uv-blue and bee-green colours. With increasing experience, the original preference pattern persisted but the choice of bee-blue and bee-green colours increased.
2. Neither colour distance of the test stimuli to the background or to the pre-training signal, nor their intensity, nor their green contrast, accounted for the colour choice of bees. Choices reflected innate preferences and were only associated with stimulus hue.
3. Bees learned very quickly the pre-trained chromatic stimulus, the original colour preferences being thus erased.
4. Colour preferences were strongly correlated with flower colour and its associated nectar reward, as measured in 154 flower species.
5. Colour preferences also resemble the wavelength dependence of colour learning demonstrated in experienced bees.

     

A study on the rate of water transport of the clam katelysia opima in relation to environmental conditions

1. The neutral red technique was employed to study the rate of filtration in Katelysia opima.
2. The weight specific water filtration was found to be greater for younger clams compared to the older ones.
3. The rate of water filtration increased with decreasing salinity.
4. Water filtration was found to increase as temperature increased, reaching a maximum at 35°C. but then sharply decreasing at 39°C.
5. Light had no significant effect on the rate of filtration.
6. Suspended matter was found to affect the rate of water filtration.
7. The rate of filtration was low at high pH and high in low pH.
8. The rate of water filtration was found to be faster during high tide than during low tide.
9. The presence of the parasitic crab, Pennotheris sp., in the mantle cavity of clams had a marked effect on the particle filtration.
10. Accidental cut of the siphon tips had no effect on the rate of filtration.