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The dipteran ‘Giant fibre’ pathway: neurons and signals

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Summary

  1. 1.

    The uniquely identifiable pair of giant descending neurons ofMusca domestica andCalliphora erythrocephala are compared and described in relation to homologues inDrosophila.

  2. 2.

    Cobalt coupling in the giant fibre system suggests that giant descending neurons receive inputs from antennal mechanosensory afferents and small-field visual interneurons.

  3. 3.

    InMusca andCalliphora, terminals of giant descending neurons invade several discrete areas of neuropil. This is in contrast toDrosophila where homologous neurons have a relatively simple terminal.

  4. 4.

    Despite differences in morphology, in all three species a homologous terminal region is cobalt-coupled to the largest of three motorneurons supplying the second leg's tergotrochanteral muscle.

  5. 5.

    Sensory connections revealed anatomically were confirmed electrophysiologically by intracellular recording and dye-filling. Mechanosensory inputs from the ipsilateral antenna, and small field motion stimuli, or light ‘on’ and ‘off’ stimuli to the ipsilateral compound eyes, produce subthreshold activation in the giant descending neuron.

  6. 6.

    As inDrosophila, light ‘on’ or ‘off’ stimuli presented to white-eyed mutants ofMusca andCalliphora elicit a spiking response in the giant descending neuron. In red-eyed flies, spikes could only be routinely induced by electrical stimulation across the head between the compound eyes or by releasing the cell from hyperpolarization.

  7. 7.

    Double recordings from the giant (intracellular combined with lucifer or cobalt iontophoresis for cell identification) and from the tergotrochanteral motorneuron (extracellular in muscle) show that a spike in the giant neuron is usually sufficient to drive a spike in the tergotrochanteral muscle. Latencies are short, as reported inDrosophila. Releasing the giant from hyperpolarization can result in a motorneuron spike in the absence of a spike in the giant: this suggests the presence of an electrical synapse.

  8. 8.

    Spiking in the tergotrochanteral muscle and the giant can occur independently of each other. Thus, this interneuron alone is neither necessary nor invariably sufficient for initiating ‘escape behaviour’ in the species studied. This is also corroborated by the structure of tergotrochanteral motorneurons whose extensive dendrites receive a variety of other inputs.

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Abbreviations

DLM :

dorsal longitudinal indirect flight muscle

GDN :

giant descending neuron

PSI :

peripherally synapsing interneuron

TTM :

tergotrochanteral muscle

TTMm :

tergotrochanteral muscle motorneuron

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biology, The University of Sussex, BN1 9QG, Brighton, Falmer, England

    Jonathan P. Bacon

  2. European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstrasse 1, D-6900, Heidelberg, Federal Republic of Germany

    Nicholas J. Strausfeld

Authors
  1. Jonathan P. Bacon
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  2. Nicholas J. Strausfeld
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We dedicate this paper to Prof. Dr. Franz Huber on the occasion of his 60th birthday

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Bacon, J.P., Strausfeld, N.J. The dipteran ‘Giant fibre’ pathway: neurons and signals. J. Comp. Physiol. 158, 529–548 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603798

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00603798

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