Independent coding of wind direction in cockroach giant interneurons

Adi Mizrahi, Frederic Libersat*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this study we examined the possible role of cell-to-cell interactions in the localization processing of a wind stimulus by the cockroach cereal system. Such sensory processing is performed primarily by pairs of giant interneurons (GIs), a group of highly directional cells. We have studied possible interactions among these GIs by comparing the wind sensitivity of a given GI before and after removing another GI with the use of photoablation. Testing various combinations of GI pairs did not reveal any suprathreshold interactions. This was true for all unilateral GI pairs on the left or right side as well as all the bilateral GI pairs (left and right homologues). Those experiments in which we were able to measure synaptic activity did not reveal subthreshold interactions between the GIs either. We conclude that the GIs code independently for a given wind direction without local GI-GI interactions. We discuss the possible implications of the absence of local interactions on information transfer in the first station of the escape circuit.

Original languageAmerican English
Pages (from-to)2655-2661
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Neurophysiology
Volume78
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 1997
Externally publishedYes

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