Electrophysiological Evidence for Intrinsic Pacemaker Currents in Crayfish Parasol Cells.

I used sharp intracellular electrodes to record from parasol cells in the semi-isolated crayfish brain to investigate pacemaker currents. Evidence for the presence of the hyperpolarization-activated inward rectifier potassium current was obtained in about half of the parasol cells examined, where strong, prolonged hyperpolarizing currents generated a slowly-rising voltage sag, and a post-hyperpolarization rebound. The amplitudes of both the sag voltage and the depolarizing rebound were dependent upon the strength of the hyperpolarizing current.

Effects of sensilla morphology on mechanosensory sensitivity in the crayfish.

Crustaceans contain a great variety of sensilla along their antennules that enable them to sense both hydrodynamic and chemical stimuli in aquatic environments, and can be used to inspire the design of engineered sensing systems. For example, along the antennule of the freshwater crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, four predominant mechanosensory sensilla morphologies are found. To study their response to upstream flow perturbations, atomic force microscopy was utilized to determine P.

A nose too far: regional differences in olfactory receptor neuron efficacy along the crayfish antennule.

The olfactory sense organs of crayfish are aesthetasc sensilla, arrayed along the distal half of the lateral antennular flagella on each side of the animal. The sensillar array is sparse at its proximal origin, where each annulus houses only a single aesthetasc, and it is most dense distally, with occasionally up to six aesthetascs residing on each antennular annulus. Previous studies have tacitly assumed that the aesthetascs are co-equal in their functional properties.

Effects of antennule morphology and flicking kinematics on flow and odor sampling by the freshwater crayfish, Procambarus clarkii.

The flow structure around the lateral antennular flagellum of the freshwater crayfish, Procambarus clarkii, was quantified to determine how antennule morphology and flicking kinematics affect fine-scale flow surrounding their chemosensory sensilla, called aesthetascs. Particle image velocimetry was used to measure velocity and vorticity of flow between aesthetascs of dynamically scaled physical models of P. clarkii antennules.

Smelling, feeling, tasting and touching: behavioral and neural integration of antennular chemosensory and mechanosensory inputs in the crayfish.

Crustaceans possess two pairs of prominent, movable sense organs on the rostral aspect of their bodies termed antennae: (1) a relatively short, usually bifurcate pair, the 1st antennae, also referred to as antennules, and (2) a much longer, uniramous pair, the 2nd antennae, or just 'antennae'. The antennules are equipped with diverse arrays of six or more types of cuticular setae, most of which are believed to have a sensory function. Axons from these structures course within the antennular nerve to the deutocerebrum, a large middle brain region that is known to receive chemoreceptor and mechanoreceptor inputs.

Micro-scale fluid and odorant transport to antennules of the crayfish, Procambarus clarkii.

A numerical model was developed to determine advective-diffusive transport of odorant molecules to olfactory appendages of the crayfish, Procambarus clarkii. We tested the extent of molecule transport to the surfaces of aesthetasc sensilla during an antennule flick and the degree of odorant exchange during subsequent flicks. During the rapid downstroke of a flick, odorant molecules are advected between adjacent aesthetascs, while during the slower return stroke, these odorants are trapped between the sensilla and molecular diffusion occurs over a sufficient time period to transport odorants to aesthetasc surfaces.

Identified antennular near-field receptors trigger reflex flicking in the crayfish.

Near-field disturbances in the water column are known to trigger reflex antennular flicking in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. We have identified the hydrodynamic sensors on the lateral antennular flagellum that constitute an afferent limb of this reflex and have measured the relative directionally dependent thresholds of the sensory neurons associated with these structures to hydrodynamic stimulation. Twenty-five individual standing feathered sensilla, comprising a sparse, linearly arrayed population of near-field sensors along the lateral and medial antennular flagella, were exposed to standardized pulsatile stimuli at 20 deg intervals along a 320 deg circular track.

Regulation of conduction velocity in axons from near-field receptors of the crayfish antennule.

The antennular flagella of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii each possess a linear array of near-field receptors, termed standing feathered sensilla, that are extremely sensitive to movement of the surrounding water. Previously it had been shown that, within each flagellum, the axonal conduction velocity of the sensory neuron pair associated with each feathered sensillum was linearly related to the position of the sensillum along the flagellar axis. In the current studies I show that the conduction velocity of axons within the proximal three segments of the antennules, between the flagellum and the brain, is somewhat higher than the corresponding conduction velocity of the same axons in the flagellum, especially for those whose flagellar conduction velocity is between 1 and 3 m s(-1), even though there is no net change in axonal diameter within this part of the afferent pathway.

A mechanism for neuronal coincidence revealed in the crayfish antennule.

Startle reflexes employ specialized neuronal circuits and synaptic features for rapid transmission of information from sense organs to responding muscles. Successful excitation of these pathways requires the coincidence of sensory input at central synaptic contacts with giant fiber targets. Here we describe a pathway feature in the crayfish tailflip reflex: A position-dependent linear gradation in sensory axonal conduction velocities that can ensure the coincident arrival of impulses from near-field hydrodynamic sensilla along the crayfish antennules at their synaptic contacts with central nervous elements that drive startle behavior.

Analytical and numerical investigation of the flow past the lateral antennular flagellum of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii.

Analytical and numerical methodologies are combined to investigate the flow fields that approach and pass around the lateral flagellum of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. Two cases are considered, the first being that of a free-flicking flagellum and the second corresponding to a flagellum fixed inside a small bore tube. The first case is the natural one while the second corresponds to the experimental configuration investigated by Mellon and Humphrey in the accompanying paper.

Directional asymmetry in responses of local interneurons in the crayfish deutocerebrum to hydrodynamic stimulation of the lateral antennular flagellum.

We have recorded spiking responses from single, bimodally sensitive local interneurons (Type I) in the crayfish deutocerebrum to hydrodynamic and odorant stimuli flowing in two directions past the lateral antennular flagellum. Changing the direction of seamless introductions (meaning, with minimal variations of fluid velocity magnitude) of odorant flow past the flagellum, from proximal-->distal to distal-->proximal, did not consistently affect the dose-dependent responses of Type I neurons. By contrast, changing the direction of an abruptly initiated flow of water (or odorant) past the flagellum resulted in consistently larger numbers of spikes in response to this hydrodynamic stimulation when the flow direction was proximal-->distal.

Combining dissimilar senses: central processing of hydrodynamic and chemosensory inputs in aquatic crustaceans.

Aquatic environments are by their nature dynamic and dominated by fluid movements driven by lunar tides, temperature and salinity density gradients, wind-driven currents, and currents generated by the earth's rotation. Accordingly, animals within the aquatic realm must be able to sense and respond to both large-scale (advection) and small-scale (eddy turbulence) fluid dynamics, for chemical signals critically important for their survival are embedded within such movements. Aquatic crustaceans possess many types of near-field fluid-flow detectors and two general classes of chemoreceptors on their body appendages: high-threshold, near-field receptors that may be somewhat equated with the sense of taste, and low-threshold far-field receptors that can be considered as olfactory.

Integration of hydrodynamic and odorant inputs by local interneurons of the crayfish deutocerebrum.

Intracellular electrodes were used to record from local interneurons in the olfactory lobes of the midbrain in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii. Cells that resembled previously studied central targets of olfactory receptor neurons on the lateral antennular flagellum were specifically examined for their responses to hydrodynamic stimuli. Initiation of water movement past the antennular flagellum, confined within an olfactometer, evoked a triphasic excitatory-inhibitory-excitatory postsynaptic potential lasting up to 2 s that generated spikes on depolarizing phases of the response sequence.

Parasol cells of the hemiellipsoid body in the crayfish Procambarus clarkii: dendritic branching patterns and functional implications.

Multimodal, higher-order sensory integration in decapod crustaceans occurs in local interneurons (parasol cells) within a structure in the lateral protocerebrum, the hemiellipsoid body, which is located dorsal to the terminal medulla. The hemiellipsoid body is targeted by projection neuron inputs by means of the olfactory globular tract from bilateral deutocerebral neuropils, the accessory lobes, which receive secondary visual, mechanosensory, and olfactory inputs. Parasol cell dendrites arborize extensively within the two neuropils of the hemiellipsoid body and possibly have some neurites within another neuropil at its base.

Dendritic initiation and propagation of spikes and spike bursts in a multimodal sensory interneuron: the crustacean parasol cell.

Invasion of dendrites by spikes and spike bursts can play a critical role in regulating the output of central neurons by modifying their dynamic input-output relationships. Back-propagating bursts can modulate voltage-gated channels in the short term and can also modify long-term responses to synaptic input. Determining the morphological site of spike initiation and the mode of propagation through the dendritic arbor is therefore crucial to an understanding of a neuron's functional properties.

Active dendritic properties constrain input-output relationships in neurons of the central olfactory pathway in the crayfish forebrain.

Parasol cells are multimodal sensory interneurons of the hemi-ellipsoid body in the decapod forebrain. In reptant crustaceans, the hemi-ellipsoid body resides in the base of the eyecup, as an appendage to the terminal medulla. Parasol cells exhibit periodic depolarizations at a frequency of 0.