Degree of neuromuscular facilitation is correlated with contribution to walking in leg muscles of two species of crab |
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Authors: | Richard B Dewell Jim H Belanger |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, USA;(2) Department of Biology, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA |
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Abstract: | Despite decades of work on the neuromuscular physiology of crustacean leg muscles, little is known about how physiological
differences between these muscles relate to their behavioral usage. We studied a sideways walking shore crab, Carcinus maenas, and a forward walking spider crab, Libinia emarginata, as part of our work to understand the neural control of locomotion. The two species differed significantly in facilitation at neuromuscular junctions for every muscle studied. Further, these
differences are correlated exactly with the walking use of the muscles. The forward walking spider crab showed more facilitation
in muscles which operate joints having larger ranges of motion in forward walking. Likewise, greater facilitation was seen
in muscles more active during sideways walking in the predominantly sideways walking shore crab. These differences even occur
between muscles innervated by the same motor neuron, and become more evident with higher stimulus frequency. The increased
presynaptic facilitation might allow selective recruitment of fibers innervated by the same motor neuron and aid in temporal
filtering.
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
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Keywords: | Locomotion EMG Carcinus Libinia Muscle properties |
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