Summary
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1.
The morphology and response properties of a high-frequency, bilaterally projecting brain neuron (HBB1) is described for the cricketAcheta domestica.
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2.
HBB1 has processes in several regions of the protocerebrum (Fig. 1), many of which overlap those of L3, an ascending prothoracic interneuron (Fig. 7).
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3.
HBB1 is most responsive to 16-kHz sounds (Fig. 2), but only responds to suprathreshold signals with 1–3 spikes/syllable (Fig. 5). HBB1 also receives inhibitory input following excitation (Fig. 4). If the syllable period (SP) of the chirp is less than 95 ms, HBB1 only produces action potentials in response to the first syllable of the chirp, whereas a chirp having SPs greater than 160 ms induces spiking to each syllable, i.e., a low-pass filter (Figs. 3, 6).
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4.
Several correlations exist between the input excitatory postsynaptic potentials of HBB1 and the spiking of L3. These findings are consistent with L3 providing auditory input to HBB1 (Figs. 8–10).
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5.
The suggestion of HBB1 being involved in courtship song filtering is discussed.
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Abbreviations
- EPSP :
-
excitatory postsynaptic potential
- SP :
-
syllable period
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Atkins, G., Chiba, A., Atkins, S. et al. Low-pass filtering of sound signals by a high-frequency brain neuron and its input in the cricketAcheta domestica L.. J. Comp. Physiol. 164, 269–276 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603957
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603957