1. The gastric central pattern generator (CPG), located in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of t... more 1. The gastric central pattern generator (CPG), located in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of the spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus), is nonrhythmic when deprived of neuromodulatory inputs from anterior ganglia. Leaving these inputs intact in vitro can sustain a gastric rhythm but also introduces numerous, uncontrolled and largely unknown modulatory and synaptic influences that greatly complicate analysis of this CPG. 2. Here we induced gastric rhythms in the isolated STG, by superfusing a specific modulator, the muscarinic agonist, pilocarpine. Muscarinic agents sustain vigorous gastric rhythms in the isolated STG. Our aim was to analyze the pattern-generating functions of the restricted gastric circuit, free of complicating influences from other ganglia, and under specific (muscarinic) modulation. 3. We used combinations of multiple cell hyperpolarizations, photodeletions, and synaptic blockade by picrotoxin to assess the pattern-generating role of individual gastric neurons ...
1. In crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, remotion of a walking leg stretches the thoraco-coxal (... more 1. In crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, remotion of a walking leg stretches the thoraco-coxal (TC) muscle receptor organ (TCMRO), located at the leg's articulation with the thorax. In vitro, alternate stretch and release of the fourth leg's TCMRO entrained the centrally generated rhythmic motor output to that leg, with the remotor phase of the rhythm entraining to TCMRO stretch, the promoter phase to release. This coordination of motor bursts to afferent input corresponds to that of active, rhythmic movements in vivo. 2. Entrainment was rapid in onset (stable coordination resulting within the first or second stimulus cycle) and was relatively phase-constant (whatever the stimulus frequency, during 1:1 entrainment, remotor bursts began near the onset of stretch and promotor bursts began near the onset of release). Outside the range of 1:1 entrainment, 2:1, 1:2, and 1:3 coordination ratios (rhythm:stimulus) were encountered. Resetting by phasic stimulation of the TCMRO was c...
1. 1. The campaniform sensilla on the wings of the locust are strain-sensitive mechanoreceptors t... more 1. 1. The campaniform sensilla on the wings of the locust are strain-sensitive mechanoreceptors that provide proprioceptive feedback about wing forces, particularly aerodynamic lift, experienced during flight. They can be excited by imposed deformations of the wing, including those caused by imposed wing twisting. The afferents of the single subcostal group of sensilla on the hindwing had the same directional selectivity for supinating twist and shared the properties of a dynamic sensitivity and adaptation. A group of strain-sensitive mechanoreceptors with similar properties, presumably campaniform sensilla, is also found in the forewings. 2. 2. Four types of thoracic interneurones influenced by these factors were recorded and stained intracellularly. The response of interneurone 5AA to imposed deformations of the hindwing ipsilateral to its soma is determined by excitatory chemical synaptic input from the campaniform sensilla. Interneurone and sensilla have a common directional sel...
In the oscillatory circuits known as central pattern generators (CPGs), most synaptic connections... more In the oscillatory circuits known as central pattern generators (CPGs), most synaptic connections are inhibitory. We have assessed the effects of inhibitory synaptic input on the dynamic behavior of a component neuron of the pyloric CPG in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion. Experimental perturbations were applied to the single, lateral pyloric neuron (LP), and the resulting voltage time series were analyzed using an entropy measure obtained from power spectra. When isolated from phasic inhibitory input, LP generates irregular spiking-bursting activity. Each burst begins in a relatively stereotyped manner but then evolves with exponentially increasing variability. Periodic, depolarizing current pulses are poor regulators of this activity, whereas hyperpolarizing pulses exert a strong, frequency-dependent regularizing action. Rhythmic inhibitory inputs from presynaptic pacemaker neurons also regularize the bursting. These inputs 1) reset LP to a similar state at each cycle, 2) exten...
1. In this paper we begin an assessment of the role of synaptic properties, especially synaptic t... more 1. In this paper we begin an assessment of the role of synaptic properties, especially synaptic time course, in the function of the central pattern generator circuit (CPG) that controls rhythmic movements of the gastric mill in the foregut of spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus). 2. The majority of neurons in the gastric CPG are motor neurons (MNs) that innervate striated muscles of the gastric mill but that also make electrical and inhibitory chemical interconnections within the neuropil of the stomatogastric ganglion. We studied the ionic dependence, pharmacology, and time course of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) evoked by two such MNs, the dorsal gastric (DG) and lateral gastric (LG), in their central synaptic partners. In the periphery, LG and DG are thought to release glutamate. 3. LG and DG evoke two types of IPSPs in follower neurons. The first, fast type of IPSP rises rapidly (the graded component within 100-300 ms, the spike-mediated components within a few ten...
SUMMARY 1. The pleuroaxillary muscle of a forewing (M85) or hindwing (M114) in the locust is supp... more SUMMARY 1. The pleuroaxillary muscle of a forewing (M85) or hindwing (M114) in the locust is supplied by two motor neurones. Each of the two motor neurones innervates a different part of the muscle. Single impulses in these motor neurones produce small twitches in the muscle which tetanize at about 30 Hz. At the wingbeat frequency they show considerable tonic
Using the dynamic clamp technique, we investigated the effects of varying the time constant of mu... more Using the dynamic clamp technique, we investigated the effects of varying the time constant of mutual synaptic inhibition on the synchronization of bursting biological neurons. For this purpose, we constructed artificial half-center circuits by inserting simulated reciprocal inhibitory synapses between identified neurons of the pyloric circuit in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion. With natural synaptic interactions blocked (but modulatory inputs retained), these neurons generated independent, repetitive bursts of spikes with cycle period durations of approximately 1 s. After coupling the neurons with simulated reciprocal inhibition, we selectively varied the time constant governing the rate of synaptic activation and deactivation. At time constants <or=100 ms, bursting was coordinated in an alternating (anti-phase) rhythm. At longer time constants (>400 ms), bursts became phase-locked in a fully overlapping pattern with little or no phase lag and a shorter period. During the...
1. The gastric central pattern generator (CPG), located in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of t... more 1. The gastric central pattern generator (CPG), located in the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of the spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus), is nonrhythmic when deprived of neuromodulatory inputs from anterior ganglia. Leaving these inputs intact in vitro can sustain a gastric rhythm but also introduces numerous, uncontrolled and largely unknown modulatory and synaptic influences that greatly complicate analysis of this CPG. 2. Here we induced gastric rhythms in the isolated STG, by superfusing a specific modulator, the muscarinic agonist, pilocarpine. Muscarinic agents sustain vigorous gastric rhythms in the isolated STG. Our aim was to analyze the pattern-generating functions of the restricted gastric circuit, free of complicating influences from other ganglia, and under specific (muscarinic) modulation. 3. We used combinations of multiple cell hyperpolarizations, photodeletions, and synaptic blockade by picrotoxin to assess the pattern-generating role of individual gastric neurons ...
1. In crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, remotion of a walking leg stretches the thoraco-coxal (... more 1. In crayfish, Pacifastacus leniusculus, remotion of a walking leg stretches the thoraco-coxal (TC) muscle receptor organ (TCMRO), located at the leg's articulation with the thorax. In vitro, alternate stretch and release of the fourth leg's TCMRO entrained the centrally generated rhythmic motor output to that leg, with the remotor phase of the rhythm entraining to TCMRO stretch, the promoter phase to release. This coordination of motor bursts to afferent input corresponds to that of active, rhythmic movements in vivo. 2. Entrainment was rapid in onset (stable coordination resulting within the first or second stimulus cycle) and was relatively phase-constant (whatever the stimulus frequency, during 1:1 entrainment, remotor bursts began near the onset of stretch and promotor bursts began near the onset of release). Outside the range of 1:1 entrainment, 2:1, 1:2, and 1:3 coordination ratios (rhythm:stimulus) were encountered. Resetting by phasic stimulation of the TCMRO was c...
1. 1. The campaniform sensilla on the wings of the locust are strain-sensitive mechanoreceptors t... more 1. 1. The campaniform sensilla on the wings of the locust are strain-sensitive mechanoreceptors that provide proprioceptive feedback about wing forces, particularly aerodynamic lift, experienced during flight. They can be excited by imposed deformations of the wing, including those caused by imposed wing twisting. The afferents of the single subcostal group of sensilla on the hindwing had the same directional selectivity for supinating twist and shared the properties of a dynamic sensitivity and adaptation. A group of strain-sensitive mechanoreceptors with similar properties, presumably campaniform sensilla, is also found in the forewings. 2. 2. Four types of thoracic interneurones influenced by these factors were recorded and stained intracellularly. The response of interneurone 5AA to imposed deformations of the hindwing ipsilateral to its soma is determined by excitatory chemical synaptic input from the campaniform sensilla. Interneurone and sensilla have a common directional sel...
In the oscillatory circuits known as central pattern generators (CPGs), most synaptic connections... more In the oscillatory circuits known as central pattern generators (CPGs), most synaptic connections are inhibitory. We have assessed the effects of inhibitory synaptic input on the dynamic behavior of a component neuron of the pyloric CPG in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion. Experimental perturbations were applied to the single, lateral pyloric neuron (LP), and the resulting voltage time series were analyzed using an entropy measure obtained from power spectra. When isolated from phasic inhibitory input, LP generates irregular spiking-bursting activity. Each burst begins in a relatively stereotyped manner but then evolves with exponentially increasing variability. Periodic, depolarizing current pulses are poor regulators of this activity, whereas hyperpolarizing pulses exert a strong, frequency-dependent regularizing action. Rhythmic inhibitory inputs from presynaptic pacemaker neurons also regularize the bursting. These inputs 1) reset LP to a similar state at each cycle, 2) exten...
1. In this paper we begin an assessment of the role of synaptic properties, especially synaptic t... more 1. In this paper we begin an assessment of the role of synaptic properties, especially synaptic time course, in the function of the central pattern generator circuit (CPG) that controls rhythmic movements of the gastric mill in the foregut of spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus). 2. The majority of neurons in the gastric CPG are motor neurons (MNs) that innervate striated muscles of the gastric mill but that also make electrical and inhibitory chemical interconnections within the neuropil of the stomatogastric ganglion. We studied the ionic dependence, pharmacology, and time course of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) evoked by two such MNs, the dorsal gastric (DG) and lateral gastric (LG), in their central synaptic partners. In the periphery, LG and DG are thought to release glutamate. 3. LG and DG evoke two types of IPSPs in follower neurons. The first, fast type of IPSP rises rapidly (the graded component within 100-300 ms, the spike-mediated components within a few ten...
SUMMARY 1. The pleuroaxillary muscle of a forewing (M85) or hindwing (M114) in the locust is supp... more SUMMARY 1. The pleuroaxillary muscle of a forewing (M85) or hindwing (M114) in the locust is supplied by two motor neurones. Each of the two motor neurones innervates a different part of the muscle. Single impulses in these motor neurones produce small twitches in the muscle which tetanize at about 30 Hz. At the wingbeat frequency they show considerable tonic
Using the dynamic clamp technique, we investigated the effects of varying the time constant of mu... more Using the dynamic clamp technique, we investigated the effects of varying the time constant of mutual synaptic inhibition on the synchronization of bursting biological neurons. For this purpose, we constructed artificial half-center circuits by inserting simulated reciprocal inhibitory synapses between identified neurons of the pyloric circuit in the lobster stomatogastric ganglion. With natural synaptic interactions blocked (but modulatory inputs retained), these neurons generated independent, repetitive bursts of spikes with cycle period durations of approximately 1 s. After coupling the neurons with simulated reciprocal inhibition, we selectively varied the time constant governing the rate of synaptic activation and deactivation. At time constants <or=100 ms, bursting was coordinated in an alternating (anti-phase) rhythm. At longer time constants (>400 ms), bursts became phase-locked in a fully overlapping pattern with little or no phase lag and a shorter period. During the...
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Papers by Robert Elson