Different microcircuit responses to comparable input from one versus both copies of an identified projection neuron

ABSTRACTNeuronal inputs to microcircuits are often present as multiple copies of apparently equivalent neurons. Thus far, however, little is known regarding the relative influence on microcircuit output of activating all or only some copies of such an input. We examine this issue in the crab (Cancer borealis) stomatogastric ganglion, where the gastric mill (chewing) microcircuit is activated by modulatory commissural neuron 1 (MCN1), a bilaterally paired modulatory projection neuron. Both MCN1s contain the same co-transmitters, influence the same gastric mill microcircuit neurons, can drive the biphasic gastric mill rhythm, and are co-activated by all identified MCN1-activating pathways. Here, we determine whether the gastric mill microcircuit response is equivalent when stimulating one or both MCN1s under conditions where the pair are matched to collectively fire at the same overall rate and pattern as single MCN1 stimulation. The dual MCN1 stimulations elicited more consistently coordinated rhythms, and these rhythms exhibited longer phases and cycle periods. These different outcomes from single and dual MCN1 stimulation may have resulted from the relatively modest, and equivalent, firing rate of the gastric mill neuron LG (lateral gastric) during each matched set of stimulations. The LG neuron-mediated, ionotropic inhibition of the MCN1 axon terminals is the trigger for the transition from the retraction to protraction phase. This LG neuron influence on MCN1 was more effective during the dual stimulations, where each MCN1 firing rate was half that occurring during the matched single stimulations. Thus, equivalent individual- and co-activation of a class of modulatory projection neurons does not necessarily drive equivalent microcircuit output.

Differential activation of an identified motor neuron and neuromodulation provide Aplysia's retractor muscle an additional function

To survive, animals must use the same peripheral structures to perform a variety of tasks. How does a nervous system employ one muscle to perform multiple functions? We addressed this question through work on the I3 jaw muscle of the marine mollusk Aplysia californica's feeding system. This muscle mediates retraction of Aplysia's food grasper in multiple feeding responses and is innervated by a pool of identified neurons that activate different muscle regions. One I3 motor neuron, B38, is active in the protraction phase, rather than the retraction phase, suggesting the muscle has an additional function. We used intracellular, extracellular, and muscle force recordings in several in vitro preparations as well as recordings of nerve and muscle activity from intact, behaving animals to characterize B38's activation of the muscle and its activity in different behavior types. We show that B38 specifically activates the anterior region of I3 and is specifically recruited during one behavior, swallowing. The function of this protraction-phase jaw muscle contraction is to hold food; thus the I3 muscle has an additional function beyond mediating retraction. We additionally show that B38's typical activity during in vivo swallowing is insufficient to generate force in an unmodulated muscle and that intrinsic and extrinsic modulation shift the force-frequency relationship to allow contraction. Using methods that traverse levels from individual neuron to muscle to intact animal, we show how regional muscle activation, differential motor neuron recruitment, and neuromodulation are key components in Aplysia's generation of multifunctionality.

Feeding CPG in Aplysia Directly Controls Two Distinct Outputs of a Compartmentalized Interneuron That Functions as a CPG Element

In the context of motor program generation in Aplysia, we characterize several functional aspects of intraneuronal compartmentalization in an interganglionic interneuron, CBI-5/6. CBI-5/6 was shown previously to have a cerebral compartment (CC) that includes a soma that does not generate full-size action potentials and a buccal compartment (BC) that does. We find that the synaptic connections made by the BC of CBI-5/6 in the buccal ganglion counter the activity of protraction-phase neurons and reinforce the activity of retraction-phase neurons. In buccal motor programs, the BC of CBI-5/6 fires phasically, and its premature activation can phase advance protraction termination and retraction initiation. Thus the BC of CBI-5/6 can act as an element of the central pattern generator (CPG). During protraction, the CC of CBI-5/6 receives direct excitatory inputs from the CPG elements, B34 and B63, and during retraction, it receives antidromically propagating action potentials that originate in the BC of CBI-5/6. Consequently, in its CC, CBI-5/6 receives depolarizing inputs during both protraction and retraction, and these depolarizations can be transmitted via electrical coupling to other neurons. In contrast, in its BC, CBI-5/6 uses spike-dependent synaptic transmission. Thus the CPG directly and differentially controls the program phases in which the two compartments of CBI-5/6 may transmit information to its targets.

Activity-Dependent Peptidergic Modulation of the Plateau-Generating Neuron B64 in the Feeding Network of Aplysia

Many behaviors display various forms of activity-dependent plasticity. An example of such plasticity is the progressive shortening of the duration of protraction phase of feeding responses of Aplysia that occurs when feeding responses are repeatedly elicited. A similar protraction-duration shortening is observed in isolated ganglia of Aplysia when feeding-like motor programs are elicited through a prolonged stimulation of the command-like neuron CBI-2. Here, we investigate a cellular mechanism that may underlie this activity-dependent shortening of protraction duration of feeding motor programs. CBI-2 contains two neuropeptides, CP2 and FCAP. Previous work showed that CP2 shortens protraction duration of CBI-2 elicited programs. We show here that the same is true for FCAP. We also show that both CP2 and FCAP modulated the biophysical properties of a plateau-generating neuron, B64, that plays an important role in terminating the protraction phase of feeding motor programs. We find that prestimulation of CBI-2, as well as superfusion of CP2 and FCAP, lowered the threshold for activation of the plateau potential in B64. The threshold-lowering actions of CBI-2 prestimulation were occluded by superfusion of FCAP and CP2. Furthermore, at elevated temperature, conditions under which peptide release is prevented in Aplysia, prestimulation of CBI-2 does not lower the plateau-potential threshold, whereas superfusion of CP2 and FCAP does. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that peptides released from CBI-2 lower the threshold for activation of plateau potential in B64, thereby contributing to the shortening of protraction duration when CBI-2 is repeatedly activated.

Transforming Tonic Firing Into a Rhythmic Output in the Aplysia Feeding System: Presynaptic Inhibition of a Command-Like Neuron by a CPG Element

Tonic stimuli can elicit rhythmic responses. The neural circuit underlying Aplysia californica consummatory feeding was used to examine how a maintained stimulus elicits repetitive, rhythmic movements. The command-like cerebral-buccal interneuron 2 (CBI-2) is excited by tonic food stimuli but initiates rhythmic consummatory responses by exciting only protraction-phase neurons, which then excite retraction-phase neurons after a delay. CBI-2 is inhibited during retraction, generally preventing it from exciting protraction-phase neurons during retraction. We have found that depolarizing CBI-2 during retraction overcomes the inhibition and causes CBI-2 to fire, potentially leading CBI-2 to excite protraction-phase neurons during retraction. However, CBI-2 synaptic outputs to protraction-phase neurons were blocked during retraction, thereby preventing excitation during retraction. The block was caused by presynaptic inhibition of CBI-2 by a key buccal ganglion retraction-phase interneuron, B64, which also causes postsynaptic inhibition of protraction-phase neurons. Pre- and postsynaptic inhibition could be separated. First, only presynaptic inhibition affected facilitation of excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) from CBI-2 to its followers. Second, a newly identified neuron, B54, produced postsynaptic inhibition similar to that of B64 but did not cause presynaptic inhibition. Third, in some target neurons B64 produced only presynaptic but not postsynaptic inhibition. Blocking CBI-2 transmitter release in the buccal ganglia during retraction functions to prevent CBI-2 from driving protraction-phase neurons during retraction and regulates the facilitation of the CBI-2 induced EPSPs in protraction-phase neurons.

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Modulation of a Single Central Pattern Generating Circuit

Intrinsic and extrinsic neuromodulation are both thought to be responsible for the flexibility of the neural circuits (central pattern generators) that control rhythmic behaviors. Because the two forms of modulation have been studied in different circuits, it has been difficult to compare them directly. We find that the central pattern generator for biting in Aplysia is modulated both extrinsically and intrinsically. Both forms of modulation increase the frequency of motor programs and shorten the duration of the protraction phase. Extrinsic modulation is mediated by the serotonergic metacerebral cell (MCC) neurons and is mimicked by application of serotonin. Intrinsic modulation is mediated by the cerebral peptide-2 (CP-2) containing CBI-2 interneurons and is mimicked by application of CP-2. Since the effects of CBI-2 and CP-2 occlude each other, the modulatory actions of CBI-2 may be mediated by CP-2 release. Although the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic modulation are similar, the neurons that mediate them are active predominantly at different times, suggesting a specialized role for each system. Metacerebral cell (MCC) activity predominates in the preparatory (appetitive) phase and thus precedes the activation of CBI-2 and biting motor programs. Once the CBI-2s are activated and the biting motor program is initiated, MCC activity declines precipitously. Hence extrinsic modulation prefacilitates biting, whereas intrinsic modulation occurs during biting. Since biting inhibits appetitive behavior, intrinsic modulation cannot be used to prefacilitate biting in the appetitive phase. Thus the sequential use of extrinsic and intrinsic modulation may provide a means for premodulation of biting without the concomitant disruption of appetitive behaviors.