Control of abdominal extension in the freely moving intact crayfish cherax destructor. II. Activity Of the superficial extensor motor neurones

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Mccarthy ◽  
D.L. Macmillan
Keyword(s):  
Firing Rate ◽  
Motor Neurone ◽  
Full Extension ◽  
Sensory Neurone ◽  
Load Compensation ◽  
Muscle Receptor ◽  
Cherax Destructor ◽  
Motor Neurones ◽  
Receptor Organ ◽  
Freely Moving

The activity of the superficial extensor motor neurones was recorded during slow abdominal extension in the crayfish Cherax destructor. Postural extensions were evoked by lowering a platform from beneath the suspended crayfish. During extensions where the abdomen was physically blocked from achieving full extension, the largest superficial extensor motor neurone (SEMN6) fired at a higher rate than during unhindered extensions. Blocking a segment neighbouring that being examined also increased SEMN6 activity, demonstrating an intersegmental spread of the reflex. The increase in SEMN6 firing rate occurred in the absence of activity in the sensory neurone of the tonic muscle receptor organ, demonstrating that the tonic sensory neurone is not necessary for load compensation during these abdominal extensions in C. destructor. The findings support earlier evidence suggesting that other receptor systems can mediate load compensation in the abdomen of the crayfish.

Control of abdominal extension in the freely moving intact crayfish cherax destructor. I. Activity Of the tonic stretch receptor

1999 ◽  
Vol 202 (2) ◽  
pp. 171-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.J. Mccarthy ◽  
D.L. Macmillan
Keyword(s):  
Activity Pattern ◽  
Stretch Receptor ◽  
Sensory Neurone ◽  
Muscle Receptor ◽  
Cherax Destructor ◽  
Tonic Muscle ◽  
Receptor Organ ◽  
Servo Loop ◽  
Freely Behaving ◽  
Freely Moving

Electrical recordings were made from the sensory neurone of the tonic muscle receptor organ in the abdomen of the intact, freely behaving crayfish Cherax destructor. Slow extensions of the abdomen were evoked by lowering a platform from beneath the suspended crayfish, and the movements and tonic sensory neurone activity were video-recorded simultaneously. The recordings showed that the tonic sensory neurone was active when the abdomen was fully flexed prior to the extension. When the extension began, however, the sensory neurone ceased firing shortly after movement was detected, irrespective of the load applied to the abdomen. When the abdomen was physically blocked from extending fully, the sensory neurone did not fire. The tonic muscle receptor organ is considered to be the length-detecting sensor for a load-compensating servo-loop, but the results demonstrate that its activity pattern during extensions evoked by a platform-drop in C. destructor are not consistent with that role.

scholarly journals Central Synaptic Coupling of Walking Leg Motor Neurones in the Crayfish: Implications for Sensorimotor Integration

1988 ◽  
Vol 140 (1) ◽  
pp. 355-379
Author(s):  
PETER SKORUPSKI ◽  
KEITH T. SILLAR
Keyword(s):  
Motor Control ◽  
Sensorimotor Integration ◽  
Afferent Input ◽  
Stretch Receptor ◽  
Motor Neurone ◽  
Synaptic Coupling ◽  
Muscle Receptor ◽  
Motor Neurones ◽  
Receptor Organ ◽  
Inhibitory Interactions

We present electrophysiological evidence for the presence of central output synapses on crayfish walking leg motor neurones. The effect of these central outputs is that a motor neurone can exert tonic graded control over other motor neurones without the requirement for spiking. Excitatory interactions among synergists and inhibitory interactions among antagonists are described. This central coupling among leg motor neurones profoundly affects their responses to afferent input from an identified stretch receptor, the thoracocoxal muscle receptor organ (TCMRO). Injecting current into a motor neurone can change the gain of TCMRO reflexes in other motor neurones. Some motor neurones are also capable of reversing the sign of TCMRO reflexes by inhibiting reflex firing of antagonists and facilitating reflex activity in synergists. The implications of these central interactions of motor neurones in motor control are discussed.

Central connections of sensory neurones from a hair plate proprioceptor in the thoraco-coxal joint of the locust.

1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (7) ◽  
pp. 1589-1601 ◽  
Author(s):  
F Kuenzi ◽  
M Burrows
Keyword(s):  
Stance Phase ◽  
Swing Phase ◽  
Motor Neurone ◽  
Sensory Neurone ◽  
Sensory Neurones ◽  
Selective Stimulation ◽  
Basal Joint ◽  
Motor Neurones ◽  
Individual Motor ◽  
Stimulation Of

The hair plate proprioceptors at the thoraco-coxal joint of insect limbs provide information about the movements of the most basal joint of the legs. The ventral coxal hair plate of a middle leg consists of group of 10-15 long hairs (70 microns) and 20-30 short hairs (30 microns). The long hairs are deflected by the trochantin as the leg is swung forward during the swing phase of walking, and their sensory neurones respond phasically during an imposed deflection and tonically if the deflection is maintained. Selective stimulation of the long hairs elicits a resistance reflex that rotates the coxa posteriorly and is similar to that occurring at the transition from the swing to the stance phase of walking. The motor neurones innervating the posterior rotator and adductor coxae muscles are excited, and those to the antagonistic anterior rotator muscle are inhibited. By contrast, selective stimulation of the short hairs leads only to a weak inhibition of the anterior rotator. The excitatory effects of the long hairs are mediated, in part, by direct connections between their sensory neurones and particular motor neurones. A spike in a sensory neurone elicits a short-latency depolarising postsynaptic potential (PSP) in posterior rotator and adductor motor neurones whose amplitude is enhanced by hyperpolarising current injected into the motor neurone. When the calcium in the saline is replaced with magnesium, the amplitude of the PSP is reduced gradually, and not abruptly as would be expected if an interneurone were interposed in the pathway. Several sensory neurones from long hairs converge to excite an individual motor neurone, evoking spikes in some motor neurones. The projections of the sensory neurones overlap with some of the branches of the motor neurones in the lateral association centre of the neuropile. It is suggested that these pathways would limit the extent of the swing phase of walking and contribute to the switch to the stance phase in a negative feedback loop that relieves the excitation of the hairs by rotating the coxa backwards.

INTEGRATION OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOPS IN A CRAYFISH MUSCLE

1994 ◽  
Vol 187 (1) ◽  
pp. 305-313
Author(s):  
P Skorupski ◽  
P Vescovi ◽  
B Bush
Keyword(s):  
Negative Feedback ◽  
Positive Feedback ◽  
Motor Neurone ◽  
Chordotonal Organ ◽  
Negative Feedback Loops ◽  
Reflex Pathways ◽  
Motor Neurones ◽  
Receptor Organ ◽  
Group 2

It is now well established that in arthropods movement-related feedback may produce positive, as well as negative, feedback reflexes (Bassler, 1976; DiCaprio and Clarac, 1981; Skorupski and Sillar, 1986; Skorupski et al. 1992; Vedel, 1980; Zill, 1985). Usually the same motor neurones are involved in both negative feedback (resistance) reflex responses and positive feedback reflexes. Reflex reversal involves a shift in the pattern of central inputs to a motor neurone, for example from excitation to inhibition. In the crayfish, central modulation of reflexes has been described in some detail for two basal limb proprioceptors, the thoracocoxal muscle receptor organ (TCMRO) and the thoracocoxal chordotonal organ (TCCO) (Skorupski et al. 1992; Skorupski and Bush, 1992). Leg promotor motor neurones are excited by stretch of the TCMRO (which, in vivo, occurs on leg remotion) in a negative feedback reflex, but when this reflex reverses they are inhibited by the same stimulus. Release of the TCCO (which corresponds to leg promotion) excites some, but not all, promotor motor neurones in a positive feedback reflex. There are at least two ways in which the reflex control of a muscle may be modulated in this system. Firstly, inputs to motor neurones may be routed via alternative reflex pathways to produce different reflex outputs. Secondly, the pattern of inputs to a motor pool may be inhomogeneous, so that activation of different subgroups of the motor pool causes different outputs. Different crayfish promotor motor neurones are involved in different reflexes. On this basis, the motor neurones may be classified into at least two subgroups: those that are excited by the TCCO in a positive feedback reflex (group 1) and those that are not (group 2). Do these motor neurone subgroups have different effects on the promotor muscle, or is the output of the two promotor subgroups summed at the neuromuscular level? To address this question we recorded from the promotor nerve and muscle in a semi-intact preparation of the crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus. Adult male and female crayfish, 8-11 cm rostrum to tail, were decapitated and the tail, carapace and viscera removed. The sternal artery was cannulated and perfused with oxygenated crayfish saline, as described previously (Sillar and Skorupski, 1986).

The role of the muscle receptor organ in the control of abdominal extension in the crayfish, Cherax destructor

1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (11) ◽  
pp. 2253-2259 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Mccarthy ◽  
D Macmillan
Keyword(s):  
Constant Load ◽  
Abdominal Muscle ◽  
Muscle Receptor ◽  
Complete Extension ◽  
Cherax Destructor ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Error Detector ◽  
Receptor Organ ◽  
Servo Loop

A platform was lowered from beneath suspended crayfish, Cherax destructor, to evoke slow abdominal extension. The movements were filmed and the length between segments plotted as a function of time. Unlike abdominal flexion, which starts posteriorly and progresses anteriorly, extension occurs at all joints simultaneously. Although the duration of extension varied from trial to trial for an individual, the movement was organised in a stereotyped manner: the abdomen achieved a consistent position for any given proportion of the time for complete extension. We examined the role of the abdominal muscle receptor organs (MROs) in extension by cutting the nerves of selected MROs to abolish their input. The extension movement was measured before and after nerve section for animals with either unloaded or loaded abdomens. Removal of MRO input had no significant effect on extension of the unloaded abdomen. In animals with a loaded abdomen, the extension at joints spanned by sectioned MROs was slowed, whereas that at joints with intact MROs was not. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that the MRO is an error detector in a servo-loop controlling abdominal position. The results provide the first demonstration that this load-compensating reflex loop operates during naturally evoked extension of the abdomen under constant load.

scholarly journals Slow Active Potentials in Walking-Leg Motor Neurones Triggered by Non-Spiking Proprioceptive Afferents in the Crayfish

1986 ◽  
Vol 126 (1) ◽  
pp. 445-452
Author(s):  
KEITH T. SILLAR ◽  
ROBERT C. ELSON
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Motor Neurone ◽  
Pacifastacus Leniusculus ◽  
Intracellular Recordings ◽  
Synaptic Inputs ◽  
Rhythmic Motor ◽  
Motor Neurones ◽  
Receptor Organ ◽  
Proprioceptive Afferents

Intracellular recordings have been made from walking-leg motor neurones of the crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, in isolated preparations of the thoracic ganglia. Some motor neurones display slow depolarizations that can drive bursts of spikes and resemble ‘plateau’ potentials described in other invertebrate and vertebrate neurones. Evidence is presented which suggests that the potentials are regenerative and endogenous to the motor neurones, and are not the result of feedback from a neural network. These potentials can be induced by synaptic inputs from the non-spiking afferent neurones of the thoracic-coxal muscle receptor organ, a basal limb proprioceptor. Reflex input from this receptor is augmented during the active depolarization of the motor neurone. The results are discussed in terms of the control of rhythmic motor output and the central modulation of reflexes in the crayfish's thoracic nervous system.

A new muscle receptor organ in the antenna of the rock lobster Palinurus vulgaris : mechanical, muscular and proprioceptive organization of the two proximal joints J0 and J1

1983 ◽  
Vol 218 (1210) ◽  
pp. 95-110 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Anterior Part ◽  
Proximal Part ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chordotonal Organ ◽  
Excitatory Postsynaptic Potentials ◽  
Rock Lobster ◽  
Postsynaptic Potentials ◽  
Muscle Receptor ◽  
Physiological Properties ◽  
Receptor Organ

(i) Following previous work on the morphological and physiological properties of the two distal joints (J2, J3) of the atenna of the rock lobster Palinurus vulgaris , the mechanical, muscular and proprioceptive organization of the two proximal joints between the antennal segments S1 and S2 (J1) and between S1 and the cephalothorax (J0) have now been studied. (ii) Articulated by two classical condyles, J1 moves in a mediolateral plane. One external rotator muscle (ER) and three internal rotator muscles (IR1, IR2, IR3) subserve its movements. J0 is articulated by two different systems: a classical ventrolateral condyle and a complex sliding system constituted by special cuticular structures on the dorsomedial side of the S1 segment and on the rostrum between the two antennae. J0 moves in the dorsoventral plane by means of a levator muscle (Lm) and a depressor muscle (Dm). A third muscle, the lateral tractor muscle (LTm), associated with J0 and lying obliquely across S1, may modulate the level of friction between the S1 segment and the rostrum. (iii) Proprioception in J1 is achieved by a muscle receptor organ AMCO-J1 (antennal myochordotonal organ for the J1 joint) associating a small accessory muscle (S1.am) located in the proximal part of the S1 segment and a chordotonal organ inserted proximally on the S1.am muscle and distally on the S2 segment. J0 proprioception is ensured by a simple chordotonal organ (CO-J0) located in the anterior part of the cephalothorax. (iv) The S1.am muscle is innervated by three motoneurons characterized by their very small diameters and inducing respectively tonic excitatory postsynaptic potentials, phasic excitatory postsynaptic potentials and inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. Anatomical and physiological observations suggest functional correlation between S1.am and IR1 motor innervation. (v) Mechanical and muscular organization of J0 and J1 are compared with that of the other joints of the antenna. The properties of the AMCO-J1 proprioceptor are discussed in relation to the other muscle receptor organs described in crustaceans.

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