Extensive dendritic sprouting induced by close axotomy of central neurons in the lamprey

Massive dendritic sprouting was induced in identified giant reticulospinal neurons of the lamprey by axotomy close to the soma. An axonal lesion slightly farther from the cell body induced new growth from both dendrites and axon. The amount of new growth per cell was the same whether it originated from the dendrites alone or from axonal and dendritic compartments. The location of the axonal lesion therefore determines where, in the neuron, membrane is inserted to produce the new neurites. The dendritic tree of a differentiated vertebrate central neuron was shown to have sufficient plasticity to extend new growth for several millimeters beyond the normal dendritic domain.     

Structure of the giant fibers of earthworms

The median giant fiber and the pair of lateral giant fibers that run the length of the ventral nerve cord in earthworms were thought to arise by fusion of the axons of several nerve cells in each segment. The structure of these giant fibers has now been examined with a fluorescent dye injected into single fibers. Each giant axon connects to one cell body in each segment; the giant fibers are not fused axons. In each segment, the median giant fiber has three branches and each lateral giant fiber has five branches. These branches are presumably dendritic. No structural differences between the giant fibers in anterior and posterior regions of the worm seem to account for the functional polarity of the giant fiber system observed in behavioral studies.     

Aplysia giant cell: soma-axon voltage clamp current differences

Under voltage clamp, local membrane currents have been measured in several regions of the soma. The early inward current appears to pass largely through the membrane of the axon and of the soma near the axon in normal media. After 10(-5) molar tetrodotoxin (TTX) is added to the bathing medium the larger inward current is found in the somatic membrane away from the axon. The late currents are larger at the soma in both normal and TTX media.     

Effect of strychnine upon the electrical activity of an isolated nerve cell

The effect of strychnine upon the electrical activity recorded from the axon and the soma of an isolated nerve cell (the nonadapting stretch receptor cell of the crayfish) was studied. Protracted exposure of the soma of the cell to strychnine prolongs the duration of the intracellulary recorded action potential, as has been described in other excitable tissues treated with quaternary ammonium ions. During the plateau in the falling phase of the soma spike, the axon is usually firing repetitively. The stimulation of the inhibitory fiber produces a premature termination of the prolonged spike.     

Temperature-dependence of resistance at an electrotonic synapse

The junctional resistance at septa of the crayfish lateral giant axon is inversely related to temperature with a Q(1l), of about 3 over the range from 5 degrees to 20 degrees C. Nonjunctional axonal membrane is much less affected. Resistance changes occur rapidly with temperature changes. No correlates in ultrastructure of the synapses have been found.     

Extracellular potassium ions mediate specific neuronal interaction

The giant interneurons from the nerve system of the cockroach Periplaneta americana exhibit a peculiar reciprocal synaptic interaction. The synaptic potentials are not blocked by addition of 5 millimolar cobalt chloride and have an extrapolated reversal potential close to 0 millivolt. Hyperpolarizing current injected into one cell does not spread to the other. Intracellular injection of tetraethylammonium ions into one giant interneuron increases the duration of the action potential of the injected cell to 30 milliseconds and reduces the rise time and amplitude of the postsynaptic response recorded in the other giant interneuron. These results indicate that the interaction between the interneurons is not mediated by conventional chemical or electrotonic synapses.. All evidence points to generation of the potentials by localized increases in extracellular potassium concentrations as a consequence of firing of one neuron.     

Segregation of axonal and somatic activity during fast network oscillations

In central neurons, information flows from the dendritic surface toward the axon terminals. We found that during in vitro gamma oscillations, ectopic action potentials are generated at high frequency in the distal axon of pyramidal cells (PCs) but do not invade the soma. At the same time, axo-axonic cells (AACs) discharged at a high rate and tonically inhibited the axon initial segment, which can be instrumental in preventing ectopic action potential back-propagation. We found that activation of a single AAC substantially lowered soma invasion by antidromic action potential in postsynaptic PCs. In contrast, activation of soma-inhibiting basket cells had no significant impact. These results demonstrate that AACs can separate axonal from somatic activity and maintain the functional polarization of cortical PCs during network oscillations.     

雏鸡中脑视顶盖I层细胞构筑研究

为进一步阐明鸟类视觉通路的结构特征,试验采用Golgi-Cox法,灌流固定后尼氏体(Nissl bodies)染色和羰花青荧光染料DiI(1,1-’dioctadecyl-3,3,3’,3-t’etramethylindocarbo-cyanine perchlorate)逆向神经标记技术,对雏鸡视顶盖I层的厚度和该层的细胞形态、大小进行了观察研究和数理统计。结果表明,I层细胞多数呈梭形,还有少数呈圆形、椭圆形、锥形、三角形和不规则形状等。I层外侧部较背侧部和腹侧部厚。按照胞体面积大小将细胞分为4类:巨细胞、大细胞、中细胞和小细胞,I层背侧、腹侧和外侧以巨细胞最少,其中背侧、腹侧以小细胞为主,外侧以中细胞数量最多。I细胞具有2~6个主树突,其中有2个主树突的细胞最多(60.7%,n=128)。     

Electrogenic sodium pump and high specific resistance in nerve cell bodies of the squid

An electrogenic sodium pump contributes to the membrane potential in squid nerve cell bodies, imparting a temperature dependence to the resting potential that is abolished by strophanthidin. The existence of a potential produced by the pump in the soma but not the axon is correlated with a higher membrane resistance in the soma. Thus, membranes from different parts of a neuron may have functionally significant differences in resistance.     

Electrical responses of insect central neurons: augmentation by nerve section or colchicine

Intracellular recording from the somata of central motor neurons in the cockroach Periplaneta americana normally shows little or no electrical response evoked by soma depolarization or by antidromic stimulation. Within 4 days after either cutting the axon or administration of colchicine, large action potentials can regularly be recorded from cell bodies of metathoracic motor neurons. Each experimental procedure evokes formation of a dense, perinuclear ribonucleic acid ring in the soma of neurons showing augmented electrical responses.     

Action-potential modulation during axonal conduction

Once initiated near the soma, an action potential (AP) is thought to propagate autoregeneratively and distribute uniformly over axonal arbors. We challenge this classic view by showing that APs are subject to waveform modulation while they travel down axons. Using fluorescent patch-clamp pipettes, we recorded APs from axon branches of hippocampal CA3 pyramidal neurons ex vivo. The waveforms of axonal APs increased in width in response to the local application of glutamate and an adenosine A(1) receptor antagonist to the axon shafts, but not to other unrelated axon branches. Uncaging of calcium in periaxonal astrocytes caused AP broadening through ionotropic glutamate receptor activation. The broadened APs triggered larger calcium elevations in presynaptic boutons and facilitated synaptic transmission to postsynaptic neurons. This local AP modification may enable axonal computation through the geometry of axon wiring.     

Selective recording and stimulation of individual identified neurons in freely behaving Aplysia

A neuroethological technique is described for selective recording and stimulation of an individual neuron in freely behaving Aplysia by means of a fine wire glued into the connective tissue sheath above the identified cell body. A whole-nerve cuff electrode simultaneously monitored functionally related multiunit axon activity. For biophysical analysis the soma was impaled with a microelectrode when the ganglion was subsequently exposed. The technique is illustrated for several identified neurons involved in different behaviors.     

Tetrodotoxin does not block excitation from inside the nerve membrane

Tetrodotoxin does not block the action potential or membrane sodium current when internally perfused through the giant axon of a squid at much higher concentrations than those required for blocking by external application. It is suggested that the gate for the sodium channel is located on the exterior surface of the axon, because tetrodotoxin is not lipid soluble.     

Distal initiation and active propagation of action potentials in interneuron dendrites

Fast and reliable activation of inhibitory interneurons is critical for the stability of cortical neuronal networks. Active conductances in dendrites may facilitate interneuron activation, but direct experimental evidence was unavailable. Patch-clamp recordings from dendrites of hippocampal oriens-alveus interneurons revealed high densities of voltage-gated sodium and potassium ion channels. Simultaneous recordings from dendrites and somata suggested that action potential initiation occurs preferentially in the axon with long threshold stimuli, but can be shifted to somatodendritic sites when brief stimuli are applied. After initiation, action potentials propagate over the somatodendritic domain with constant amplitude, high velocity, and reliability, even during high-frequency trains.     

Condylactis toxin: interaction with nerve membrane ionic conductances

A toxin from the Bermuda anemone Condylactis gigantea causes the early transient conductance change of crayfish giant axon membranes to persist without affecting the shape of its turning-on. The increase in late steadystate conductance is either not affected or slightly suppressed. The effect on the conductance components can adequately account for the prolonged action potential observed in the treated axon.     

Fast axonal transport in extruded axoplasm from squid giant axon

Development of video-enhanced contrast-differential interference contrast for light microscopy has permitted study of both orthograde and retrograde fast axonal transport of membranous organelles in the squid giant axon. This process was found to continue normally for hours after the axoplasm was extruded from the giant axon and removed from the confines of the axonal plasma membrane. It is now possible to follow the movements of the full range of membranous organelles (30-nanometer vesicles to 5000-nanometer mitochondria) in a preparation that lacks a plasma membrane or other permeability barrier. This observation demonstrates that the plasma membrane is not required for fast axonal transport and suggests that action potentials are not involved in the regulation of fast transport. Furthermore, the absence of a permeability barrier surrounding the axoplasm makes this an important model for biochemical pharmacological, and physical manipulations of membranous organelle transport.     

Synaptic current at the squid giant synapse

Transmission in the giant synapse of squid was studied by measuring synaptic currents in the voltage-clamped postsynaptic giant axon. These currents varied linearly with the axon's membrane potential, and showed an intercept on the voltage axis at, or near, the sodium equilibrium potential. The intercept shifted in seawater containing less sodium by even more than the shift in the sodium equilibrium potential. It is concluded that the transmitter at this synapse causes a significant change in the sodium conductance only.     

Normalization for sparse encoding of odors by a wide-field interneuron

Sparse coding presents practical advantages for sensory representations and memory storage. In the insect olfactory system, the representation of general odors is dense in the antennal lobes but sparse in the mushroom bodies, only one synapse downstream. In locusts, this transformation relies on the oscillatory structure of antennal lobe output, feed-forward inhibitory circuits, intrinsic properties of mushroom body neurons, and connectivity between antennal lobe and mushroom bodies. Here we show the existence of a normalizing negative-feedback loop within the mushroom body to maintain sparse output over a wide range of input conditions. This loop consists of an identifiable "giant" nonspiking inhibitory interneuron with ubiquitous connectivity and graded release properties.     

A direct synaptic connection mediating both excitation and inhibition

Neurons have generally been thought to produce only one synaptic action on any particular cell which they innervate. An identified interneuron in the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia mediates both direct excitation and inhibition to an identified follower cell. At low firing rates the interneuron produces excitatory postsynaptic potentials; however at higher firing rates these gradually diminish in size and eventually invert to inhibitory postsynaptic potentials. Electrophysiological and pharmacological evidence indicates that the connection between these cells is monosynaptic, and that a single transmitter, acetylcholine, mediates both actions. These opposite synaptic responses appear to result from the transmitter's acting on two types of postsynaptic receptors having different thresholds for activation and different susceptibilities for desensitization.     

Tetraethylammonium ions: effect of presynaptic injection on synaptic transmission

Tetraethylammonium ions were injected into the presynaptic axon of the squid giant synapse. Injection of these ions caused prolongation of the action potential with decreased out ward current. The prolonged spike was associated with increased release and prolonged activity of the transmitter substance. Although the amplitude of the postsynaptic potential increased with presynaptic depolarization, strong depolarization blocked transmitter re lease. In the injected presynaptic axon, transmitter release was blocked by 10(-6) gram of tetrodotoxin per milliliter. Transmitter release appears to be under control of presynaptic potential levels.