WWW.JNEUROSCI.ORG
-
The Journal of Neuroscience ScienceCareers.org
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     
-


HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP
The Journal of Neuroscience, March 9, 2005, 25(10):2478-2489; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4787-04.2005

This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Submit an eLetter
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when eLetters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in ISI Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (12)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Marin-Burgin, A.
Right arrow Articles by French, K. A.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Marin-Burgin, A.
Right arrow Articles by French, K. A.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Sequential Development of Electrical and Chemical Synaptic Connections Generates a Specific Behavioral Circuit in the Leech

Antonia Marin-Burgin, * F. James Eisenhart, * Serapio M. Baca, William B. Kristan, Jr, and Kathleen A. French

Section of Neurobiology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0357

Neuronal circuits form during embryonic life, even before synapses are completely mature. Developmental changes can be quantitative (e.g., connections become stronger and more reliable) or qualitative (e.g., synapses form, are lost, or switch from electrical to chemical or from excitatory to inhibitory). To explore how these synaptic events contribute to behavioral circuits, we have studied the formation of a circuit that produces local bending (LB) behavior in leech embryos. This circuit is composed of three layers of neurons: mechanosensory neurons, interneurons, and motor neurons. The only inhibition in this circuit is in the motor neuron layer; it allows the animal to contract on one side while relaxing the opposite side. LB develops in two stages: initially touching the body wall causes circumferential indentation (CI), an embryonic behavior in which contraction takes place around the whole perimeter of the segment touched; one or 2 d later, the same touch elicits adult-like LB. Application of bicuculline methiodide in embryos capable of LB switched the behavior back into CI, indicating that the development of GABAergic connections turns CI into LB. Using voltage-sensitive dyes and electrophysiological recordings, we found that electrical synapses were present early and produced CI. Inhibition appeared later, shaping the circuit that was already connected by electrical synapses and producing the adult behavior, LB.

Key words: invertebrate; development; gap junction; synapse; behavior; imaging

Received Nov 23, 2004; revised January 21, 2005; accepted January 23, 2005.




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Neurophysiol.Home page
L. Rela and L. Szczupak
In Situ Characterization of a Rectifying Electrical Junction
J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2007; 97(2): 1405 - 1412.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


-

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help
-
Copyright 2008 by Society for Neuroscience ONLINE ISSN: 1529-2401
-