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Network interactions among sensory neurons in the leech

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Abstract

Interactions among mechanosensory neurons, sensitive to touch, pressure and nociceptive stimuli in the leech nervous system were studied in isolated ganglia and in body-wall preparations. Pairs of touch-pressure, touch-nociceptive and pressure-nociceptive neurons were tested by suprathreshold stimulation of one neuron while recording the response of the other, in both directions. Pressure and nociceptive stimulation evoked depolarizing and hyperpolarizing responses in touch cells, mediated by interneurons. The relative expression of these responses depended on the stimulus duration. One or two pressure cell spikes produced, predominantly, a depolarization of the touch cells, and increasing number of spikes evoked a hyperpolarization. Nociceptive cells produced primarily the hyperpolarization of touch cells at any stimulus duration. When touch cells were induced to fire by injection of positive current into the soma, stimulation of pressure cells inhibited touch cell activity. However, when touch cells were induced to fire by peripheral stimulation, pressure cell activation failed to inhibit touch cell firing. The results suggest that excitation of pressure and nociceptive cells would not limit the responses of touch cells to peripheral stimuli, but would inhibit the firing of touch cells evoked by their central connectivity network.

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Abbreviations

N:

nociceptive

P:

pressure

T:

touch

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Dr María Ana Calviño, Lic. Lorena Rela and Mariano Rodriguez for encouraging discussions and support throughout the research work and to Dr. Daniel Tomsic for his helpful comments on the manuscript. This project was funded by grants from Fundación Antorchas (Argentina), Agencia de Promoción Científica y Tecnológica (Argentina), Human Frontier for Science Program (Strassbourg, France) and Fogarty International Center (NIH, USA) to L.S.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Fisiología y Biología Molecular, Departamento de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Celular, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria, Pabellón II, piso 2. C1428EHA, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    A. M. Burgin & L. Szczupak

  2. Biology Department, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    A. M. Burgin

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  1. A. M. Burgin
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  2. L. Szczupak
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Correspondence to L. Szczupak.

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Burgin, A.M., Szczupak, L. Network interactions among sensory neurons in the leech. J Comp Physiol A 189, 59–67 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-002-0377-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-002-0377-8

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