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Long-term facilitation and low-frequency depression in a crayfish phasic motor axon

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Stimulation of the fast axon to the closer muscle of the isolated crayfish claw preparation at 0.1 Hz leads to low-frequency depression (LFD) of the excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) recorded from single muscle fibers. EPSP amplitude is reduced by 50% after only 30 stimuli at 0.1 Hz, and declines during maintained 0.1 Hz stimulation with a time constant of 10–15 min.

  2. 2.

    LFD is not affected by temperature changes ranging from 10 °C to 25 °C. However, ouabain (10−4 M-10−3 M) in the extracellular solution slightly reduces the rate of LFD.

  3. 3.

    When 0.1 Hz stimulation is delivered following a period of conditioning stimulation (5–10 Hz) which causes depression, a facilitated EPSP appears. Facilitation persists for 1/2 h or more after induction. This long-term facilitation (LTF) has some features in common with that seen after stimulation of a tonic motoneuron in crayfish and crabs.

  4. 4.

    The amplitude of LTF is directly related to the number of conditioning impulses. However, the effect is pattern-sensitive: the same number of impulses delivered in a bursting pattern enhances the expression of LTF.

  5. 5.

    LTF is enhanced by lowering the temperature or applying ouabain (10−3 M) during conditioning.

  6. 6.

    The results implicate sodium loading of phasic axon nerve terminals during stimulation as a factor in enhancing EPSP amplitude. This suggests that the mechanism for induction of LTF at phasic neuromuscular synapses is similar to that in crustacean tonic neuromuscular synapses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Toronto, M5S 1A8, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    P. A. Pahapill, G. A. Lnenicka & H. L. Atwood

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  1. P. A. Pahapill
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  2. G. A. Lnenicka
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  3. H. L. Atwood
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Pahapill, P.A., Lnenicka, G.A. & Atwood, H.L. Long-term facilitation and low-frequency depression in a crayfish phasic motor axon. J. Comp. Physiol. 161, 367–375 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603962

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