Summary
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1.
Physiological mapping by recording with small electrodes in the fourth root of the crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) sixth abdominal ganglion demonstrates a somatotopic segregation of afferent axons associated with mechanoreceptors on the dorsal telson surface.
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2.
Degeneration of axons resulting from local lesions in the periphery yields patterns of axon distribution in the fourth root that approximately agree with the physiological results.
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3.
Physiological studies of the fifth root of the sixth ganglion demonstrate a similar segregation of fibers associated with the more caudal and more medial mechanoreceptors on the dorsal telson surface.
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The caudal limit of the fourth root receptive field is variable; it can include receptors that normally are innervated by the most lateral fibers in the fifth root, those closest to the fourth root. Thus the fiber distributions are contiguous, and the mechanism governing their connection with appropriate interneurons is independent of the root in which they travel to reach the ganglion.
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I wish to thank Dr. Donald Kennedy for his interest in and support of this project. I am especially grateful to Dr. Richard Roth for helping with the anatomical studies. I am also grateful to Drs. K.L. Chow, Donald Kennedy, Paul Letourneau, Lawrence Mathers, and Jeffrey Wine for the criticism and advice they offered regarding the research and the manuscript. Deb Cowley and Jody McVittie offered technical assistance during the experiments, and Teppy Williams Dice prepared the illustrations. — The work was funded by NIH Grant NS-02944 to Dr. Kennedy and by NIH Grant GM-019-22.
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Letourneau, J.G. Somatotopic organization of afferent axons in peripheral nerves. J. Comp. Physiol. 110, 25–32 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00656779
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00656779