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Interneurons in the flight system of the cricketTeleogryllus oceanicus

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Summary

  1. 1.

    A deafferented preparation of the cricketTeleogryllus oceanicus was developed to investigate the morphological and physiological properties of thoracic neurons which are phasically active with the flight rhythm.

  2. 2.

    Electromyographic recordings from selected wing muscles established properties of the intact flight motor pattern. Deafferentation reduced the repetition frequency of the motor pattern. This reduction was mediated mainly by an increase in the latency from depressor muscle activation to elevator muscle activation. The latency from elevator to depressor muscle activation became less variable.

  3. 3.

    Intracellular recordings were taken from the neuropil segments of flight neurons using glass microelectrodes containing Lucifer Yellow. Two motoneurons were identified. Five phasically active interneurons were identified and are described in this paper.

  4. 4.

    Properties of flight neurons of crickets were very similar to those of locusts. Membrane potential oscillations were initiated and maintained by phasic excitatory and inhibitory synaptic input. Motoneurons tended to fire once per cycle in the absence of other input whereas interneurons fired high frequency bursts of 3 to 6 spikes. Interneurons with short latency connections to flight motoneurons or with the ability to reset the flight rhythm when stimulated, were identified. Flight activity in neurons was modulated by concurrent wind, ventilatory or auditory input.

  5. 5.

    The organization of cricket flight interneurons also was very similar to the organization of locust flight interneurons. Important flight interneurons (i.e. capable of resetting the flight rhythm) originated in the abdominal neuromeres fused with the metathoracic neuromere. Additionally, there was some evidence for the existence of sets of serially homologous interneurons in the three fused neuromeres of the metathoracic ganglionic mass.

  6. 6.

    The results reported here are consistent with the idea that the flight systems of locusts and crickets share a fundamental feature of interneuronal organization that results from the evolutionary origin of the flight system and is not a specific adaptation for flight.

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Abbreviations

D :

depressor

DL :

dorsal longitudinal

E :

elevator

IN :

interneuron

M :

muscle

MN :

motoneuron

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  1. Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Avenue Docteur Penfield, H3A 1B1, Montreal, P.Q., Canada

    R. M. Robertson

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Robertson, R.M. Interneurons in the flight system of the cricketTeleogryllus oceanicus . J. Comp. Physiol. 160, 431–445 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00615077

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00615077

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