Biomedical subjects

Klaudiusz R Weiss

Publications and source records attributed to Klaudiusz R Weiss.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Identification of a new neuropeptide precursor reveals a novel source of extrinsic modulation in the feeding system of Aplysia.

The Aplysia feeding system is advantageous for investigating the role of neuropeptides in behavioral plasticity. One family of Aplysia neuropeptides is the myomodulins (MMs), originally purified from one of the feeding muscles, the accessory radula closer (ARC). However, two MMs, MMc and MMe, are not encoded on the only known MM gene. Here, we identify MM gene 2 (MMG2), which encodes MMc and MMe and four new neuropeptides. We use matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry to verify that these novel MMG2-derived peptides (MMG2-DPs), as well as MMc and MMe, are synthesized from the precursor. Using antibodies against the MMG2-DPs, we demonstrate that neuronal processes that stain for MMG2-DPs are found in the buccal ganglion, which contains the feeding network, and in the buccal musculature including the ARC muscle. Surprisingly, however, no immunostaining is observed in buccal neurons including the ARC motoneurons. In situ hybridization reveals only few MMG2-expressing neurons that are mostly located in the pedal ganglion. Using immunohistochemical and electrophysiological techniques, we demonstrate that some of these pedal neurons project to the buccal ganglion and are the likely source of the MMG2-DP innervation of the feeding network and musculature. We show that the MMG2-DPs are bioactive both centrally and peripherally: they bias egestive feeding programs toward ingestive ones, and they modulate ARC muscle contractions. The multiple actions of the MMG2-DPs suggest that these peptides play a broad role in behavioral plasticity and that the pedal-buccal projection neurons that express them are a novel source of extrinsic modulation of the feeding system of Aplysia.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed2005

Generation of variants of a motor act in a modular and hierarchical motor network.

BACKGROUND: Most motor systems can generate a variety of behaviors, including categorically different behaviors and variants of a single motor act within the same behavioral category. Previous work indicated that many pattern-generating interneuronal networks may have a modular organization and that distinct categories of behaviors can be generated through flexible combinations of a small number of modules or building blocks. However, it is unclear whether and how a small number of modules could possibly generate a large number of variants of one behavior. RESULTS: We show that the modular feeding motor network of Aplysia mediates variations in protraction duration in biting-like programs. Two descending commands are active during biting behavior and trigger biting-like responses in a semiintact preparation. In the isolated CNS, when activated alone, the two commands produce biting-like programs of either long or short protraction duration by acting specifically on two modules that have opposite effects on protraction duration. More importantly, when coactivated at different frequencies, the two commands produce biting programs with an intermediate protraction duration. CONCLUSIONS: It was previously hypothesized that behavioral variants may be produced by combining different activity levels of multiple descending commands. Our data provide direct evidence for such a scheme and show how it is implemented in a modularly organized network. Thus, within a modular and hierarchical architecture, in addition to generating different categories of behavior, a small number of modules also efficiently implements variants of a single behavior.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2005

Variability of swallowing performance in intact, freely feeding aplysia.

Variability in nervous systems is often taken to be merely "noise." Yet in some cases it may play a positive, active role in the production of behavior. The central pattern generator (CPG) that drives the consummatory feeding behaviors of Aplysia generates large, quasi-random variability in the parameters of the feeding motor programs from one cycle to the next; the variability then propagates through the firing patterns of the motor neurons to the contractions of the feeding muscles. We have proposed that, when the animal is faced with a new, imperfectly known feeding task in each cycle, the variability implements a trial-and-error search through the space of possible feeding movements. Although this strategy will not be successful in every cycle, over many cycles it may be the optimal strategy for feeding in an uncertain and changing environment. To play this role, however, the variability must actually appear in the feeding movements and, presumably, in the functional performance of the feeding behavior. Here we have tested this critical prediction. We have developed a technique to measure, in intact, freely feeding animals, the performance of Aplysia swallowing behavior, by continuously recording with a length transducer the movement of the seaweed strip being swallowed. Simultaneously, we have recorded with implanted electrodes activity at each of the internal levels, the CPG, motor neurons, and muscles, of the feeding neuromusculature. Statistical analysis of a large data set of these recordings suggests that functional performance is not determined strongly by one or a few parameters of the internal activity, but weakly by many. Most important, the internal variability does emerge in the behavior and its functional performance. Even when the animal is swallowing a long, perfectly regular seaweed strip, remarkably, the length swallowed from cycle to cycle is extremely variable, as variable as the parameters of the activity of the CPG, motor neurons, and muscles.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2005

Tight or loose coupling between components of the feeding neuromusculature of Aplysia?

Like other complex behaviors, the cyclical, rhythmic consummatory feeding behaviors of Aplysia-biting, swallowing, and rejection of unsuitable food-are produced by a complex neuromuscular system: the animal's buccal mass, with numerous pairs of antagonistic muscles, controlled by the firing of numerous motor neurons, all driven by the motor programs of a central pattern generator (CPG) in the buccal ganglia. In such a complex neuromuscular system, it has always been assumed that the activities of the various components must necessarily be tightly coupled and coordinated if successful functional behavior is to be produced. However, we have recently found that the CPG generates extremely variable motor programs from one cycle to the next, and so very variable motor neuron firing patterns and contractions of individual muscles. Here we show that this variability extends even to higher-level parameters of the operation of the neuromuscular system such as the coordination between entire antagonistic subsystems within the buccal neuromusculature. In motor programs elicited by stimulation of the esophageal nerve, we have studied the relationship between the contractions of the accessory radula closer (ARC) muscle, and the firing patterns of its motor neurons B15 and B16, with those of its antagonist, the radula opener (I7) muscle, and its motor neuron B48. There are two separate B15/B16-ARC subsystems, one on each side of the animal, and these are indeed very tightly coupled. Tight coupling can, therefore, be achieved in this neuromuscular system where required. Yet there is essentially no coupling at all between the contractions of the ARC muscles and those of the antagonistic radula opener muscle. We interpret this result in terms of a hypothesis that ascribes a higher-order benefit to such loose coupling in the neuromusculature. The variability, emerging in the successive feeding movements made by the animal, diversifies the range of movements and thereby implements a trial-and-error search through the space of movements that might be successful, an optimal strategy for the animal in an unknown, rapidly changing feeding environment.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2005

Peptidergic contribution to posttetanic potentiation at a central synapse of aplysia.

Posttetanic potentiation (PTP)-like phenomena appear to be mediated by a variety of mechanisms. Although neuropeptides are located in a large number of neurons and many neuropeptides, like PTP, can enhance synaptic transmission, there is a paucity of studies indicating that peptides may actually participate in PTP. Here, we utilize a single central synapse in the feeding circuit of Aplysia to investigate a possible peptidergic contribution to PTP in the CNS. The cholinergic command-like interneuron, cerebral-buccal interneuron 2 (CBI-2), contains two neuropeptides, feeding circuit activating peptide (FCAP) and cerebral peptide 2 (CP2). Previous studies showed that tetanic prestimulation or repeated stimulation of CBI-2, as well as perfusion of FCAP and CP2, increase the size of the cholinergic excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) that CBI-2 evokes in the motoneurons B61/62 and shorten the latency to initiate B61/62 firing in response to CBI-2 stimulation. We used temperature-dependent suppression of peptide release and occlusion experiments to examine the possible contribution of FCAP and CP2 to PTP at the CBI-2 to B61/62 synapse. When peptide release was suppressed, perfusion of exogenous peptides increased the size of posttetanic EPSPs. In contrast, when peptide release was not suppressed, exogenous peptides did not enhance the size of posttetanic EPSPs, thus indicating occlusion. Temperature manipulation and occlusion experiments also indicated that peptides extend PTP duration. This peptide-dependent prolongation of PTP has functional consequences in that it extends the duration of time during which the latency to initiate B61/62 firing in response to CBI-2 stimulation is shortened.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Changes of internal state are expressed in coherent shifts of neuromuscular activity in Aplysia feeding behavior.

The multitasking central pattern generator (CPG) that drives consummatory feeding behaviors of Aplysia can produce ingestive, egestive, and intermediate motor programs. External stimuli trigger the programs but, remarkably, do not directly specify which type of program is produced. Rather, recent work has proposed, the type of program is determined by the internal network state of the CPG that has developed in response to the previous history of the stimulation. Here we have tested a key prediction of this network-state hypothesis. If the network state has a real existence and governs real functional behavior, changes in the state should be seen as coherent, coordinated changes along many dimensions of interneuron and motor neuron activity, muscle contraction, and ultimately movement, that underlie functional behavior. In reduced neuromuscular preparations, we elicited repetitive motor programs by continued stimulation of the esophageal nerve while recording the firing of motor neurons B8, B15, B16, B4/5, and B48, and contractions of the accessory radula closer and I7-I10 muscles that respectively close and open the animal's food-grasping organ, the radula. Using sonomicrometric techniques, we similarly recorded the movement of the radula in the complete buccal mass. Successive esophageal nerve programs indeed exhibited clear progressive changes in motor neuron firing, muscle contractions, and the phasing of radula movements within each cycle, from an initially intermediate or even ingestive character to a strongly egestive character. We conclude that the Aplysia feeding CPG really has a coherent internal network state whose dynamics are likely to be reflected in the real behavior of the animal.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Modeling neuromuscular modulation in Aplysia. III. Interaction of central motor commands and peripheral modulatory state for optimal behavior.

Recent work in computational neuroethology has emphasized that "the brain has a body": successful adaptive behavior is not simply commanded by the nervous system, but emerges from interactions of nervous system, body, and environment. Here we continue our study of these issues in the accessory radula closer (ARC) neuromuscular system of Aplysia. The ARC muscle participates in the animal's feeding behaviors, a set of cyclical, rhythmic behaviors driven by a central pattern generator (CPG). Patterned firing of the ARC muscle's two motor neurons, B15 and B16, releases not only ACh to elicit the muscle's contractions but also peptide neuromodulators that then shape the contractions through a complex network of actions on the muscle. These actions are dynamically complex: some are fast, but some are slow, so that they are temporally uncoupled from the motor neuron firing pattern in the current cycle. Under these circumstances, how can the nervous system, through just the narrow channel of the firing patterns of the motor neurons, control the contractions, movements, and behavior in the periphery? In two earlier papers, we developed a realistic mathematical model of the B15/B16-ARC neuromuscular system and its modulation. Here we use this model to study the functional performance of the system in a realistic behavioral task. We run the model with two kinds of inputs: a simple set of regular motor neuron firing patterns that allows us to examine the entire space of patterns, and the real firing patterns of B15 and B16 previously recorded in a 2 1/2-h-long meal of 749 cycles in an intact feeding animal. These real patterns are extremely irregular. Our main conclusions are the following. 1) The modulation in the periphery is necessary for superior functional performance. 2) The components of the modulatory network interact in nonlinear, context- and task-dependent combinations for best performance overall, although not necessarily in any particular cycle. 3) Both the fast and the slow dynamics of the modulatory state make important contributions. 4) The nervous system controls different components of the periphery to different degrees. To some extent the periphery operates semiautonomously. However, the structure of the peripheral modulatory network ensures robust performance under all circumstances, even with the irregular motor neuron firing patterns and even when the parameters of the functional task are randomly varied from cycle to cycle to simulate a variable feeding environment. In the variable environment, regular firing patterns, which are fine-tuned to one particular task, fail to provide robust performance. We propose that the CPG generates the irregular firing patterns, which nevertheless are guaranteed to give robust performance overall through the actions of the peripheral modulatory network, as part of a trial-and-error feeding strategy in a variable, uncertain environment.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2004

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.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2004

The construction of movement with behavior-specific and behavior-independent modules.

Growing evidence suggests that different forms of complex motor acts are constructed through flexible combinations of a small number of modules in interneuronal networks. It remains to be established, however, whether a module simply controls groups of muscles and functions as a computational unit for use in multiple behaviors (behavior independent) or whether a module controls multiple salient features that define one behavior and is used primarily for that behavior (behavior specific). We used the Aplysia feeding motor network to examine the two proposals by studying the functions of identifiable interneurons. We identified three types of motor programs that resemble three types of behaviors that Aplysia produce: biting, swallowing, and rejection. Two ingestive programs (biting, swallowing) are defined by two movement parameters of the feeding apparatus (the radula): one is the same in both programs (phasing of radula closure motoneurons relative to radula protraction-retraction), whereas the other parameter (protraction duration) is different in the two programs. In each program, these two parameters were specified together by an individual neuron, but the neurons in each were different (B40 for biting, B30 for swallowing). These findings support the existence of behavior-specific modules. Furthermore, neuron B51 was found to mediate a phase that can be flexibly added on to both ingestive and egestive-rejection programs, suggesting that B51 may be a behavior-independent module. The functional interpretation of the role played by these modules is supported by the patterns of synaptic connectivity that they make. Thus, both behavior-specific and behavior-independent modules are used to construct complex behaviors.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Dynamical basis of intentions and expectations in a simple neuronal network.

Selection of behavioral responses to external stimuli is strongly influenced by internal states, such as intentions and expectations. These internal states are often attributed to higher-order brain functions. Yet here we show that even in the simple feeding network of Aplysia, external stimuli do not directly specify which motor output is expressed; instead, the motor output is specified by the state of the network at the moment of stimulation. The history-dependence of this network state manifests itself in the same way as do intentions and expectations in the behavior of higher animals. Remarkably, we find that activity-dependent plasticity of a synapse within the network itself, rather than some higher-order network, mediates one important aspect of the change in the network state. Through this mechanism, changes in the network state become an automatic consequence of the generation of behavior. Altogether, our findings suggest that intentions and expectations may emerge within behavior-generating networks themselves from the plasticity of the very processes that generate the behavior.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

A specific synaptic pathway activates a conditional plateau potential underlying protraction phase in the Aplysia feeding central pattern generator.

A common feature in the architecture of neuronal networks is a high degree of seemingly redundant synaptic connectivity. In many cases, the synaptic inputs converging on any particular neuron all use the same neurotransmitter and appear to be fundamentally equivalent. Here, we analyze a striking counterexample in which such inputs are not equivalent and, as a result, play very different roles in the generation of the pattern of activity produced by the network. In the feeding central pattern generator of Aplysia, the pattern-initiating neuron B50 elicits motor programs by exciting the plateauing neuron B31/B32 in two ways: directly and indirectly through neuron B63. All of the synaptic connections use ACh. Despite the direct input of B50 to B31/B32, the indirect pathway of exciting B31/B32 through B63 is required for B50 to elicit the B31/B32 plateau potential and the motor program. We dissect this requirement using the muscarinic cholinergic antagonist pirenzepine. Pirenzepine blocks the B50-elicited motor program, the plateau potential in B31/B32, and, notably, a slow component of the EPSP elicited in B31/B32 by B63 but not that elicited by B50. The muscarinic agonist oxotremorine restores the plateau potential in B31/B32 and eliminates the necessity for B63 in B50-elicited motor programs. Together, our analysis shows that the plateau potential in B31/B32 is not endogenous but conditional, furthermore conditional on one particular synaptic input, that from B63. Thus, among several inputs to B31/B32 that use the same transmitter, the input from B63 is functionally distinct in its preferential access to the plateau potential that represents the committed step toward the initiation of a motor program.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Dopaminergic contributions to modulatory functions of a dual-transmitter interneuron in Aplysia.

The feeding central pattern generator of Aplysia produces motor programs that can differ in the degree to which they are ingestive or egestive. A number of pattern-generating interneurons that play an important role in shaping motor programs have been identified. One of these interneurons, B65, is unusual in that it contains two classical neurotransmitters, dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid. Here, we study the role of one of these transmitters, dopamine, using a combination of pharmacological and electrophysiological means. We show that B65 uses dopamine to elicit fast synaptic potentials in several follower neurons. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the dopamine antagonist sulpiride mimics the effect of bilateral B65 hyperpolarization on egestive motor programs. Thus our data suggest that dopaminergic transmission serves to increase the degree of egestiveness of motor programs, and decrease the duration of the protraction phase.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Cycle-to-cycle variability of neuromuscular activity in Aplysia feeding behavior.

Aplysia consummatory feeding behavior, a rhythmic cycling of biting, swallowing, and rejection movements, is often said to be stereotyped. Yet closer examination shows that cycles of the behavior are very variable. Here we have quantified and analyzed the variability at several complementary levels in the neuromuscular system. In reduced preparations, we recorded the motor programs produced by the central pattern generator, firing of the motor neurons B15 and B16, and contractions of the accessory radula closer (ARC) muscle while repetitive programs were elicited by stimulation of the esophageal nerve. In other similar experiments, we recorded firing of motor neuron B48 and contractions of the radula opener muscle. In intact animals, we implanted electrodes to record nerve or ARC muscle activity while the animals swallowed controlled strips of seaweed or fed freely. In all cases, we found large variability in all parameters examined. Some of this variability reflected systematic, slow, history-dependent changes in the character of the central motor programs. Even when these trends were factored out, however, by focusing only on the differences between successive cycles, considerable variability remained. This variability was apparently random. Nevertheless, it too was the product of central history dependency because regularizing merely the high-level timing of the programs also regularized many of the downstream neuromuscular parameters. Central motor program variability thus appears directly in the behavior. With regard to the production of functional behavior in any one cycle, the large variability may indicate broad tolerances in the operation of the neuromuscular system. Alternatively, some cycles of the behavior may be dysfunctional. Overall, the variability may be part of an optimal strategy of trial, error, and stabilization that the CNS adopts in an uncertain environment.

Action Potentials↗

PubMed2003

Neuromuscular modulation in Aplysia. I. Dynamic model.

Many physiological systems are regulated by complex networks of modulatory actions. Here we use mathematical modeling and complementary experiments to study the dynamic behavior of such a network in the accessory radula closer (ARC) neuromuscular system of Aplysia. The ARC muscle participates in several types of rhythmic consummatory feeding behavior. The muscle's motor neurons release acetylcholine to produce basal contractions, but also modulatory peptide cotransmitters that, through multiple cellular effects, shape the contractions to meet behavioral demands. We construct a dynamic model of the modulatory network and examine its operation as the motor neurons fire in realistic patterns that change gradually over an hour-long meal and abruptly with switches between the different feeding behaviors. The modulatory effects have very disparate dynamical time scales. Some react to the motor neuron firing only over many cycles of the behavior, but one key effect is fast enough to respond to each individual cycle. Switches between the behaviors are therefore followed by rapid relaxations along some modulatory dimensions but not others. The trajectory of the modulatory state is a transient throughout the meal, ranging widely over regions of the modulatory space not accessible in the steady state. There is a pronounced history-dependency: the modulatory state associated with a cycle of a particular behavior depends on when that cycle occurs and what behaviors preceded it. On average, nevertheless, each behavior is associated with a different modulatory state. In the following companion study, we add a model of the neuromuscular transform to reconstruct and evaluate the actual modulated contraction shapes.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Neuromuscular modulation in Aplysia. II. Modulation of the neuromuscular transform in behavior.

In this work we use mathematical modeling and complementary experiments to study the dynamics of modulation in the accessory radula closer (ARC) neuromuscular system of Aplysia. Here we join a dynamic model of the modulation from the preceding paper to a model of the basal neuromuscular transform (NMT). The resulting complete model of the NMT allows us to predict, test, and analyze the actual modulated contraction shapes in different types of feeding behavior, through entire quasi-realistic meals. The model reproduces a variety of published and new experimental observations. We find that components of the modulatory network act in interdependency and mutual complementarity, one or another playing a key role depending on the behavior and its past history. The history is remembered by slow dynamical components whose persistence prepares the system for future behavior of the same kind. The persistence becomes counterproductive, however, when the behavior suddenly changes. Superposition of fast dynamical components alleviates the problem under most, but not all, circumstances. In the quasi-realistic meals, the modulation improves functional performance on average, but degrades it after certain behavioral switches, when the model predicts sharp contraction transients. These are indeed seen in the real muscle. We propose that the real system does not switch the underlying motor neuron firing patterns abruptly, but relaxes them gradually, matching the relaxation of the peripheral modulatory state, through such behavioral transitions. We model food-induced arousal, a known phenomenon of this kind. The peripheral dynamics of the modulated NMT thus constrain the motor commands of the CNS.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Concerted GABAergic actions of Aplysia feeding interneurons in motor program specification.

GABAergic inhibitory interneurons regulate the activity of diverse types of neural networks, but the specific roles of these interneurons in motor control are poorly understood. In the Aplysia feeding motor network, three interneurons, cerebral-buccal interneuron-3 (CBI-3) and buccal interneurons B40 and B34, are GABA-immunoreactive and evoke fast IPSPs in their postsynaptic followers. Using a combination of pharmacological experiments with GABA antagonists, agonists, and uptake inhibitors, we found that these fast IPSPs are likely mediated by GABA. Functionally, these fast IPSPs specify two parameters for ingestive motor programs elicited by the command-like interneuron CBI-2: (1) the appropriate phasing of activity of the radula closer motor neuron B8 relative to protraction-retraction, and (2) protraction duration. First, in ingestive programs, B8 activity is phased such that it fires minimally during protraction. CBI-3 and B40 exert fast inhibition to minimize B8 activity during protraction, by either acting directly on B8 (B40) or indirectly on B8 (CBI-3). Second, these ingestive programs are characterized by long protraction duration, which is promoted by B40 and B34 because hyperpolarization of either cell shortens protraction. Such effects of B40 and B34 are attributable, at least partly, to their inhibitory effects on the retraction-phase interneuron B64 whose activation terminates protraction. Consistent with a GABAergic contribution to both B8 phasing and protraction duration, blockade of GABAergic inhibition by picrotoxin increases B8 activity during protraction and shortens protraction, without disrupting the integrity of motor programs. Thus, the concerted actions of GABAergic inhibition from three Aplysia feeding interneurons contribute to the specification of multiple features that define the motor program as an ingestive one.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Convergent mechanisms mediate preparatory states and repetition priming in the feeding network of Aplysia.

Improvement of behavioral responses to expected stimuli has been attributed to a change in the preparatory state. In this study, we take advantage of the accessibility of the nervous system of Aplysia and develop an in vitro analog of the preparatory state for feeding behaviors. We provide evidence that the change in the preparatory state may be elicited initially by activity of identified serotonergic metacerebral cells (MCCs). We demonstrate, however, that the preparatory state is maintained through MCC-independent repetition priming that is embedded in the properties of the behavior-generating network. Both MCC-dependent and MCC-independent processes converge on the same site in the behavior-generating network to mediate the change in the preparatory state. Thus, we propose a model of how multiple neuronal structures interact to elicit and maintain changes in the preparatory states in the CNS.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Identification of a GABA-containing cerebral-buccal interneuron-11 in Aplysia californica.

The cerebral-buccal interneurons (CBIs) in Aplysia are a group of inter-ganglionic projection neurons that regulate feeding motor programs. In this study, electrophysiological and immunocytological methods were used to identify a previously uncharacterized CBI, designated CBI-11. CBI-11 is a gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-immunoreactive neuron located in the G cluster of the cerebral ganglion. Firing CBI-11 produced fast picrotoxin-sensitive inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in buccal motor neuron B3. Local application of GABA to B3 produced a picrotoxin-sensitive hyperpolarization that reversed at the same membrane potential as the IPSPs elicited by stimulation of CBI-11. Together, these observations indicate that CBI-11 utilizes GABA as its transmitter. Finally, stimulation of CBI-11 elicited rhythmic motor programs in quiescent buccal ganglia. Thus, CBI-11 is a GABAergic CBI that can function as a motor program initiator.

Animals↗