scholarly journals The Effects of Curare in the Cockroach

1970 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 593-601
Author(s):  
K. J. FRIEDMAN ◽  
A. D. CARLSON
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Action Potential ◽  
Nerve Cord ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Periplaneta Americana ◽  
Sensory Motor ◽  
Giant Fibres ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. The study of insect curarization in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, has been continued. The application of curare solution (0.032 M dTC) to the nerve cord produced blockage of action-potential conduction in the giant fibres lying within the nerve cord. 2. The application of curare solution to the cerci prevented the recording of action potentials from the cercal nerves of the organism. Application of dTC to the cercal nerve-A6 region of the cockroach prevented giant fibres from responding to electrical stimulation of the cercal nerves. These results are interpreted as indicating that curare blocks the conduction of action potentials in the cercal nerve. 3. It is proposed that curare can induce blockage of conduction in sensory, motor and central nervous system fibres. It is further proposed that this blockage of conduction is the mechanism of insect curarization. 4. The results of previous reports concerned with insect curarization are re-interpreted in view of the proposal. Several of the conflicts in these reports are resolved by the proposal that blockage of conduction is the mechanism of insect curarization.

Presynaptic inhibition of transmission from identified interneurons in locust central nervous system

1981 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 501-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. G. Pearson ◽  
C. S. Goodman
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Presynaptic Inhibition ◽  
Auditory Stimuli ◽  
Movement Detector ◽  
Intracellular Recordings ◽  
Contralateral Movement ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. Intracellular recordings near the output terminals of an identified interneuron (the descending contralateral movement detector, DCMD) in the locust revealed the occurrence of depolarizing synaptic potentials. These presynaptic depolarizing potentials were evoked by spikes in both DCMDs, by auditory stimuli, and by electrical stimulation of the pro- to mesothoracic connectives. The occurrence of the depolarizing potentials decreased the amplitude of the action potentials close to the output terminals. 2. The stimuli that produced depolarizing potentials in the presynaptic terminals reduced the amplitude of the monosynaptic excitatory postsynaptic potentials evoked by the DCMDs in identified follower interneurons. We conclude that at least part of this reduction in transmission from the DCMDs results from presynaptic inhibition and that the presynaptic inhibition is related to a reduction in the amplitude of the presynaptic action potentials. 3. We propose that the function of the presynaptic inhibition of the DCMDs is to ensure that the interneurons triggering a jump are never activated by the DCMDs in the absence of proprioceptive signals from the legs indicating the animal's readiness to jump.

Sodium and Potassium Fluxes in the Abdominal Nerve Cord of the Cockroach, Periplaneta Americana L

1961 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 315-322
Author(s):  
J. E. TREHERNE
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Nerve Cord ◽  
Periplaneta Americana ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Potassium Ions ◽  
Sodium Ions ◽  
Nerve Sheath ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Sodium And Potassium

1. The influx of sodium and potassium ions into the central nervous system of Periplaneta americana has been studied by measuring the increase in radioactivity within the abdominal nerve cord following the injection of 24NA and 42K. into the haemolymph. 2. The calculated influx of sodium ions was approximately 320 mM./l. of nerve cord water/hr. and of potassium ions was 312 mM./l. of nerve cord water/hr. These values are very approximately equivalent to an influx per unit area of nerve cord surface of 13.9 x 10-2 M cm. -2 sec.-1 for sodium and 13.5 x 10-12 M cm. -2 sec.-1 for potassium ions. 3. The relatively rapid influxes of these ions are discussed in relation to the postulated function of the nerve sheath as a diffusion barrier. It is suggested that a dynamic steady state rather than a static impermeability must exist across the sheath surrounding the central nervous system in this insect.

scholarly journals Therapeutic electrical stimulation of the central nervous system

2005 ◽  
Vol 328 (2) ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alim-Louis Benabid ◽  
Bradley Wallace ◽  
John Mitrofanis ◽  
Celine Xia ◽  
Brigitte Piallat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Stimulation Of

An electrophysiological analysis of extra-axonal sodium and potassium concentrations in the central nervous system of the cockroach (Periplaneta americana L.)

1975 ◽  
Vol 63 (3) ◽  
pp. 801-811
Author(s):  
M. V. Thomas ◽  
J. E. Treherne
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Action Potentials ◽  
Periplaneta Americana ◽  
Sodium Concentration ◽  
Blood Potassium ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Sucrose Gap ◽  
Sodium And Potassium

Simultaneous intracellular and sucrose-gap recordings showed, in contrast to previous findings, that the electrical parameters of giant axons were similar to intact and desheathed connectives bathed with the ‘extracellular Ringer’ of Yamasaki & Narahashi. This implies that the extra-axonal sodium concentration, in situ, is likely to be lower than had been previously supposed. Axonal responses showed that, despite the high blood concentration of 24–2 mM-K+ measured by flame photometry, the effective concentration in the blood was 10–15 mM-K+ which corresponds to the measurements made with potassium-selective electrodes. The activity of the blood potassium ions caused a marked reduction in the amplitude of the action potentials following surgical desheathing or disruption of the blood-brain barrier with hypertonic urea. It is suggested that a regulatory mechanism exists in the central nervous system which counteracts the effects of the high blood potassium level.

The Metabolism of Acetylcholine in the Intact Central Nervous System of An Insect (Periplaneta Americana L.)

1965 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 441-454
Author(s):  
J. E. TREHERNE ◽  
D. S. SMITH
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Nerve Cord ◽  
Cholinergic System ◽  
Periplaneta Americana ◽  
Extracellular Fluid ◽  
Fibrous Layer ◽  
Nerve Sheath ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Hydrolysis Of

1. A very rapid metabolism of 3H-labelled acetylcholine has been demonstrated in the intact abdominal nerve cord. It has been shown that the cholinesterase system is effective in drastically reducing the concentration of acetylcholine in the extracellular fluid of the terminal abdominal ganglion with bathing solutions of up to IO-2M acetylcholine. 2. Evidence has been obtained which indicates that an appreciable hydrolysis of acetylcholine occurs at the periphery of the nerve cord. This effect is correlated with the electronmicroscopic demonstration of regions of eserine-sensitive cholinesterase located on glial membranes in the periphery of ganglia and connectives. It is suggested that some hydrolysis of extraneous acetylcholine may occur in the fibrous layer of the nerve sheath as a result of an accumulation of diffusible acetylcholinesterase in this region. 3. The results are discussed in relation to the possible involvement of the conventional cholinergic system in synaptic transmission in the central nervous system of this insect.

Motivational and Perceptual Aspects of Subcortical Stimulation in Cats

1958 ◽  
Vol 194 (2) ◽  
pp. 427-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harold C. Nielson ◽  
Robert W. Doty ◽  
Lester T. Rutledge
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Electrical Stimulation ◽  
Minute Period ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Subcortical Stimulation ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Central Stimulation ◽  
Stimulation Of

Reports of others that animals will seek electrical stimulation of certain regions of the central nervous system are confirmed. A method is presented whereby these ‘motivational’ aspects of central stimulation can be analyzed and shown to be capable of change by training and to have a different threshold from the animal's ‘perception’ of this stimulation. Cats were trained to press a bar to receive pellets of meat. When each bar-press was accompanied by stimulation through electrodes implanted in the caudate nucleus or anterior hypothalamus, the animals continued pressing. If the press was paired with stimulation of the septal or habenular regions, pressing was abolished. Foot-shock paired with pressing also produced avoidance but pairing with a startling buzzer did not. Caudatal stimulation of 0.2 ma, 50/sec., 2-msec. pulses, was adequate as conditional stimulus to establish conditioned foreleg flexions to avoid an electric shock. Subsequent to the latter training two animals would no longer press the bar if pressing resulted in caudatal stimulation. Other cats would press as often as 1000 times in a 20-minute period to obtain caudatal stimulation if it were allowed at rapid rates and intensities five times that required to evoke conditioned flexion reflexes. The evidence suggests that avidity develops for stimulation of certain neural structures only if the stimulus is adequate to initiate some form of excessive, seizure-like activity.

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