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Volume 17, Number 2,
Issue of January 15, 1997
pp. 709-716
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience
Altered Excitability of the Crayfish Lateral Giant Escape Reflex
during Agonistic Encounters
Franklin B. Krasne,
Ashkan Shamsian, and
Raghavendra Kulkarni
Department of Psychology and Brain Research Institute, University
of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095-1563
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
FOOTNOTES
REFERENCES
ABSTRACT
The excitability of the lateral giant escape reflex of socially
dominant and submissive crayfish at rest and during agonistic encounters was studied and compared. During agonistic encounters the
excitability of the lateral giant reflex falls, substantially in
subordinates and slightly in dominants, whereas at rest excitability seems to be independent of social status. Thus, paradoxically, socially
dominant animals are more likely to execute lateral giant escape
reactions during interactions than are subordinates. It is suggested
that subordinates under threat of attack tend to engage circuitry
involved in flexible, nonreflex ("voluntary") types of escape not
mediated by giant neurons and therefore inhibit giant neuron-mediated
reflex circuitry that produces prompt, but less adaptive, responses. In
contrast, dominants go about their business, mainly ignoring their
conspecifics and relying on reflex escape to protect them from
unexpected attack. Consistent with this view, escape of subordinates
during agonistic encounters is mediated by nongiant, not reflex,
circuitry. These observations and their interpretation suggest a
possible functional role for recently described social status-dependent
serotonergic modulation of the lateral giant reflex, which is
inhibitory in sign in subordinates and facilitatory in dominants.
Key words:
5-HT;
serotonin;
agonistic behavior;
lateral giant;
social dominance;
aggression;
crayfish;
escape reflex;
reflex
modulation
INTRODUCTION
Escape responses mediated by the lateral giant
(LG) axons of the crayfish are known to be subject to modulation under
a number of behavioral circumstances. Lateral giant escape is inhibited when an animal is restrained (Krasne and Wine, 1975
), feeding (Krasne
and Lee, 1988
), exhibiting defensive posture (Beall et al., 1990
),
walking backward (Beall et al., 1990
), or is in the process of
executing a previously begun escape response (Roberts, 1968
);
inhibition also partially mediates habituation to repetitive stimulation (Krasne and Teshiba, 1995
). The reflex is facilitated when
an animal has been traumatized by strong stimulation (Krasne and
Glanzman, 1986
). Investigation of the mechanisms of several of these
forms of modulation has provided insights of rather general neurobiological interest (Krasne and Bryan, 1973
; Krasne and Lee, 1988
;
Vu et al., 1993
; Krasne and Teshiba, 1995
).
For those kinds of inhibition in which the matter has been studied,
available evidence suggests that GABA, acting at several different loci
on the LG dendrites and also in some cases at previous points in the
circuit, is the inhibitory transmitter (Roberts, 1968
; Kennedy et al.,
1980
; Vu and Krasne, 1993
; Krasne and Teshiba, 1995
). Serotonin is
known to produce inhibition with properties quite similar to some types
of GABA-ergic inhibition that have been studied, but no actual role for
serotonergic modulation has been found (Glanzman and Krasne, 1983
; Vu
and Krasne, 1993
).
However, Yeh et al. (1996
, 1997)
recently reported that the sign of the
modulatory effect of serotonin on the LGs is dependent on an animal's
social status. In subordinates serotonin inhibits escape, apparently as
was seen for animals of unspecified social status by Glanzman and
Krasne (1983)
, whereas in dominants, and also in socially isolated
crayfish, serotonin facilitates LG escape. This rather
remarkable social dependency of the modulatory role of serotonin
obviously suggests that serotonergic modulation of escape may occur
during agonistic interactions. That escape reflex excitability might be
modulated during social interactions seems intuitively plausible, but
despite its ethological interest this possibility has not, until now,
been investigated.
Tail flip escape responses in crayfish can be produced by three
different systems (Wine and Krasne, 1972
, 1982
): (1) circuitry that
produces stereotyped, very short-latency upward-directed responses to
abdominal mechanosensory stimulation contingent on firing of LG command
neurons, (2) circuitry that produces stereotyped, short-latency
backward-directed responses to rostral mechanosensory and visual
stimuli contingent on the firing of medial giant command neurons, and
(3) circuitry that produces nonstereotyped visually guided tail flip
swimming responses of rather long and variable latency without the aid
of giant neurons. We refer here to the stereotyped giant fiber-mediated
responses as "reflex" to contrast them with the more flexible,
long-latency nongiant or "voluntary" [Wine and Krasne (1972)
and
Krasne and Wine (1984)
discuss the rationale for this terminology]
responses. Most of the observations reported here concerned the LG
reflex.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Animals and maintenance. Male Procambarus
clarkii, ~8-10 cm in length (rostrum to telson) were obtained
from various local suppliers. They were maintained and tested as pairs
in aerated, filtered 5 gallon aquaria separated, except during social
testing, by a porous partition. Their claws were banded to protect
electrode leads, but this seemed to have little effect on their
agonistic behavior.
Preparation. Before surgery animals were allowed to interact
for ~5 min, which was long enough to determine which dominated, as
determined by chase, attack, and threat by the dominant and evasion or
submissive posture of the subordinate. Work by others has shown
relative social status to be quite stable over time (Bovbjerg, 1953
;
Lowe, 1956
). This has been our experience, as well; only one pair
reversed its dominance relationship after implantation (for analysis,
this pair was classified in terms of its postimplantation status).
Animals were implanted with stimulating electrodes on roots 2-4 of one
side of the last abdominal ganglion, and recording electrodes were
placed dorsal to the ventral nerve cord on the 2-3 and 3-4 abdominal
connectives (Fig. 1; for details, see Glanzman and
Krasne, 1983
). Electrodes were stainless steel 00 insect pins (Wards)
insulated except for a small gap where the electrodes crossed the nerve
fibers to be recorded or stimulated. The stimulating electrodes were
used to test the excitability of the LG reflex, and the recording
electrodes were used to monitor firing of the LGs and also the largest
of the first-order sensory interneurons (int A) intercalated between
sensory neurons and LGs (Fig. 1). Then 1-3 d (usually 2 d) were
allowed for recovery from the implantation before testing.
Fig. 1.
Chronic preparation. A, Recording
(R) and stimulating (S) electrodes were
implanted as indicated. Recording electrodes were placed dorsal to the
cord (C), where they detected the firing of int A as
small spikes (dot in inset) and LG firing
as large spikes (triangle in inset). The
stimulating electrodes lie over afferent-containing roots; the number
of fibers that fire increases as a function of stimulus intensity.
B, Circuit of afferent portions of LG reflex indicating
parts of circuit activated by stimulating electrodes
(Stim) and detected by recording electrodes
(Rec).
[View Larger Version of this Image (34K GIF file)]
Testing. Each pair was tested on three occasions, always
separated by at least 1 d. During all testing single 0.2 msec test pulses to sensory root electrodes were applied every 1.5 min; a
computer varied the pulse voltage from trial to trial to evaluate continuously, in alternation, the thresholds for firing of the LGs and
of int A (Fig. 2). Although LG firings were scored for convenience, it is firmly established that short-latency upward tail
flips occur if and only if the LGs fire (Wine and Krasne, 1972
; Olson
and Krasne, 1981
; Krasne, unpublished data); thus, it can be assumed
that when the LGs fired, LG-type behavioral responses always occurred.
Stimuli were controlled by a D/A converter with a 1 µA step size;
stimulus levels are presented as the number of steps above 0. Both
animals were stimulated approximately in synchrony (test stimuli
separated by ~1/4 sec
the time needed for the computer to acquire
and process electrophysiological data).
Fig. 2.
Results from a typical experimental session. Each
point shows the stimulus level applied on a trial
(stimulus scale arbitrary). Filled symbols indicate that
the LGs (circles) or interneuron A
(squares) fired, and open symbols
indicate that they did not. Animals were separated during periods I and
III and were together during period II. Letters indicate
what the animal was doing at the time each stimulus was given during
period II (see Table 1 for codes).
[View Larger Version of this Image (32K GIF file)]
Before each session, the approximate threshold of int A for each animal
was determined by trial and error. Then the initial stimulus level for
int A was set just above threshold and that for LG at three times that
level (stimuli were kept within 8 times the int A threshold).
Thereafter, the threshold-tracking algorithm increased stimulus levels
whenever the unit under examination failed to fire to the preceding
stimulation and reduced it when the unit did fire. When on adjacent
trials a response occurred to the greater, but not the lesser,
stimulus, the two stimulus levels were saved as "upper" and
"lower bounds" on the threshold, and the step by which subsequent
stimulus levels were changed was halved (down to a minimum step size);
when responding to stimuli was not predicted by current estimates of
the upper and lower bounds on threshold, step size was doubled (up to a
maximum step size).
After electrode leads were attached, 30 min was allowed for animals to
recover from the disturbance. Thresholds were tracked for ~30 min
before bringing the animals together (period I), for 60 min with the
animals together (period II), and for 30 min with them again separated
(period III). Animals were brought together for interaction either by
removing the partition separating them or by lifting both animals and
placing them on the dominant's side of the tank; we saw no differences
between the results of these procedures. All animals also received
control tests in which they were either left undisturbed, except for
the test shocks, or were exchanged to their partner's side of the tank
during the time corresponding to period II of experimental sessions.
Throughout encounters the ongoing behavior of each animal immediately
before the occurrence of test shocks was scored according to the code in Table 1.
Table 1.
Behavior scoring
codes
V, Vigorous claw
grappling
|
| C, Claw grappling |
| A, Approaching other
animal |
| T, Touching other animal |
| D, Dominant posture (raised
open claws, standing high, center of tank, facing other
animal) |
| R, Retreating from other animal |
| S, Submissive
posture (facing away from other animal, at margin of tank, thorax close
to substrate, claws touching substrate) |
| B, Being
touched |
| U, Unspecified definite movement |
| Q, Quiescent (not
moving, no recognized agonistic posture) |
| G, Gravel
manipulation* |
| F, Flipping* |
|
|
|
|
*
Rarely seen just preceding stimulations and
not included in Figures 6, 7, 8.
|
|
Data analysis. When on adjacent trials during threshold
tracking a response occurred to a greater, but not to a lesser,
stimulus, threshold was assumed to have been crossed, and its value was taken as halfway between the two stimuli. Such estimates from threshold
crossings were averaged over periods of the experiment to obtain the
estimates of LG thresholds used for data analyses.
For several analyses we wished to make quantitative comparisons between
the excitabilities of the escape reflex during different ongoing
activities; if tests had been done with the same set of stimulus levels
during each type of activity, a direct comparison could have been made
of the proportion of positive responses during each condition. However,
because the ongoing behavior of the animal could not be controlled,
arranging such test conditions would have been next to impossible.
Therefore we were faced with data like that at the bottom of Figure
3, which shows the responses and failures (as
filled and open circles, respectively) as a
function of stimulus strength in an animal under two conditions.
Although it seems obvious that excitability of escape was less under
the condition yielding the left-hand set of trials than for those on
the right, quantification of this presents a problem. The procedure that we adopted was to assume that probability of response as a
function of stimulus strength could be approximated by the
sigmoid-shaped logistic function, p = 1/(1 + e
(x
T)/S). The variable x is
a measure of stimulus strength, the parameter T (for
threshold), is the stimulus value at which probability of response is
0.5, and the parameter S (for spread) reflects the degree of
gradualness of the rise of the function. The best-fitting logistic
function was determined for each set of points, as shown in Figure 3.
The average probability of response across the full range of stimuli
(indicted by the dashed lines) then could be taken as a
measure of the excitability of the escape reflex that could be expected
to be reasonably independent of the particular stimulus values used for
testing.
Fig. 3.
Measures of threshold and response probability
illustrated. Each panel shows pooled data from several sessions on a
single animal. The left panel shows period II trials
during which a dominant animal was still but maintaining a dominant
posture; the right panel show all trials during period I
of the same sessions. At the bottom of each panel is a
scatter plot of stimulus levels presented, with those that caused
responses shown as filled symbols. Stimulus levels are
normalized to the baseline threshold for the session in which they were
presented (i.e., they were divided by the average of the threshold
voltage during periods I and III for the session). At the
top of each panel is shown the best-fitting logistic
curve of probability of response as a function of normalized stimulus
strength for the data below (see text). The marker at probability 0.5 on the left panel indicates the maximum
likelihood values of T ± S. The
mean of the curve over normalized stimulus strengths
0-8 is shown as dashed lines.
[View Larger Version of this Image (11K GIF file)]
The best-fitting logistic function was determined by making maximum
likelihood estimates of the parameters T and S.
The probability of getting a given set of data was calculated for a
range of values of T and S, and the values that
maximized the probability of the observed data were used as the
logistic function parameters; the parameter space was searched with
T and S increments of 2 and 1.25%, respectively,
of the full range of stimulus values. Although we never actually tested
with zero strength stimuli in our experiments, the probability of a
spontaneous flip at any arbitrarily chosen moment (i.e., a flip at zero
stimulus strength) was virtually nil; therefore, we added to each data
set 30 nonresponse trials to constrain the logistic functions to near
zero at zero stimulus strength (30 trials being the minimum that
produced effective anchoring).
Excitability of the escape reflex tended to be reduced during periods
of interaction; thus, it was useful to create a statistic that
reflected degree of suppression. The average of arc sin mean probability across periods I and III minus average arc sin
mean probability for period II, referred to as the "suppression
index," served this purpose. Arc sin transforms of
probability were used to make the probabilities, which are constrained
between zero and one, more normally distributed. On occasion, a range
of T and S values provided equally good fits to
the data; then the values that gave the lowest suppression index were
used.
Statistical analyses. Wilcoxon signed ranks tests were used
to evaluate within-subject differences between treatments and Mann-Whitney U tests to evaluate between-group differences.
All tests were two-tailed. When we desired to evaluate the effect of
social interaction on escape threshold, we attempted to factor out most
of the effect of any gradual shifts of threshold that may have
developed because of testing, per se, by calculating the difference in
mean threshold between period II and the averages of periods I and the
last half of period III (by which time the effects of the previous
interaction period seemed to have worn off); we refer to this measure
as the period II threshold increase.
RESULTS
Baseline LG escape reflex excitability of dominants and
subordinates does not differ
In all test sessions the thresholds for LG and int A were
determined before bringing the animals together for interaction. In
most cases, both for dominants and subordinates, the threshold of LG
was close to twice that of int A; however, in two subordinates it was
much higher than this (Fig. 4). Although there is
certainly no statistically significant difference here
(p > 0.2), these results raise the possibility
that some differences in baseline excitability might be found with
further investigation.
Fig. 4.
Resting excitability of LG reflex. Scatter plot of
ratios of LG to interneuron A threshold are averaged over all periods I for each animal.
[View Larger Version of this Image (8K GIF file)]
Lateral giant escape is depressed during agonistic encounters and
more so in subordinates than dominants
Figure 2 shows the experimental results for a dominant/submissive
pair. The stimulus threshold for firing of the giants, and for a
corresponding tail flip response, rises during the period of
interaction in both animals, although considerably more in the
submissive than the dominant, and returns to near baseline when the
animals are separated. Figure 5, A and
B, which summarizes data for all the tests done, shows this
pattern to be common, although not without exception. Period II
threshold increases (see Materials and Methods) were statistically
reliable for both dominants (p < 0.01) and
submissives (p < 0.01), and increases were
significantly greater for subordinates than dominants
(p < 0.02).
Fig. 5.
LG thresholds of dominants and subordinates during
encounters. For each period, LG thresholds, taken as averages of
estimates from individual threshold crossings (see Data Analysis), were normalized to period I values. A, All
experimental sessions; thresholds for each session are joined by a
line. Period III was divided into halves (a
and b); for clarity only, IIIb values are shown here.
B, Data averaged across animals. Data for control (see
Materials and Methods) as well as for experimental sessions are
shown.
[View Larger Version of this Image (24K GIF file)]
The same animals also were tested without a period of social
interaction, either being undisturbed or being handled and placed on
their partner's side during the period when in experimental tests they
would have been together (Fig. 5B). There was no detectable difference between the two sorts of control, so the data were pooled.
The control animals showed a mild rise in threshold over the course of
each session because of habituation; because the rise was a little
greater in the earlier part of each session, mean thresholds during
period II were slightly greater than averaged period I and IIIb
thresholds, with the result that there was a slight period II
threshold increase (significant for dominants, but not for
submissives). However, the magnitude of this increase was trivial when
compared with the increase seen when animals were placed together (in
both dominants and submissives, p < 0.01 for the
difference in period II threshold increase between
"together" and control sessions).
When animals were separated (period III), escape thresholds fell toward
the preinteraction (period I) level, although there seems to have been
a tendency for thresholds of dominants to fall a little below those for
control runs and for thresholds of subordinates to be elevated relative
to control. These differences were not statistically significant, but
they warrant further examination (see Discussion). It is difficult to
evaluate precisely how rapidly threshold began to fall after separation
of the animals, because the computer algorithm used for tracking
thresholds had a certain amount of inertia built into it; thus, in
animals whose threshold had risen during interaction, it usually did
not test with low stimulus levels immediately after separation.
However, in eight sessions the stimulus given at 3 min after separation
was >25% below the difference between the threshold at the end of the
interaction period and the preinteraction threshold, and in eight cases
it was >67% below at 6 min after separation; in each of these cases the stimulus caused a response. Thus, the threshold-elevating effects
of interaction seem to wear off quite rapidly once the animals are
separated.
Sensory interneuron thresholds remain constant while LG thresholds
are elevated
The threshold of the largest of the interneurons intercalated
between sensory neurons and LGs shows no sign of increasing during
period II in either the session illustrated in Figure 2 or in any other
test session of the study. Thus, insofar as the behavior of interneuron
A is representative of that of sensory interneurons in general, the
modulation of escape during agonistic encounters seems to be
attributable to modulation focused at the level of the LGs.
LG escape is suppressed more during some activities
than others
The activities of animals in each group during formal experimental
sessions are consistent with our initial evaluation of their social
status (Fig. 6). Dominants approach their conspecifics, whereas subordinates never do so; subordinates retreat from their partners, but dominants do not. Dominants touch subordinates, but
subordinates never touch dominants except as part of claw-grappling episodes, which (from informal observation rather than formal behavior
ratings) typically are initiated by the dominant, rather than by the
subordinate.
Fig. 6.
Behavioral differences between dominants and
subordinates. The mean number of occurrences per session during period
II is shown for each category of behavior.
[View Larger Version of this Image (19K GIF file)]
Figure 7 displays the results of all test trials run,
pooled across animals but segregated with respect to the kind of
activity in which the animal was engaging at the time that reflex test shocks were applied. It seems clear from this chart that during certain
activities, such as "vigorous" or "ordinary" claw grappling (categories V and C, respectively) by submissives, escape is suppressed relative to control levels (PRE and POST),
whereas suppression of escape is less conspicuous during other
behaviors, such as retreat (R) by subordinates or display of
"dominant postures" (D) by dominants.
Fig. 7.
LG reflex excitability associated with different
behaviors. For this figure, data from all animals were pooled, and
stimulus levels from an encounter were normalized to the average of
periods I and III for that encounter.
[View Larger Version of this Image (36K GIF file)]
To quantify the differences that seem apparent in Figure 7, we
calculated a suppression index for each of the data sets (Fig. 8, black bars; see Materials and Methods). We
also did a similar computation for the data of each individual animal,
the results of which also appear in Figure 8 (open circles).
From these calculated indices it seems that (1) the overall greater
tendency of submissives than of dominants to suppress is not simply a
product of more engagement by submissives in suppression-associated
activities, because even for activity categories that occur in both
types of animal (categories V, C, U, and Q) the suppression index,
averaged over these categories, is greater in submissives than in
dominants (p < 0.02). (2) Suppression of escape
is not attributable to the animals being together, per se, because when
animals are quiescent (category Q), there is relatively little
consistent indication of suppression; when animals are pooled across
groups, the suppression index is not significantly different from zero
(p
0.05) and is reliably less than during claw
grappling (p < 0.001 for Q vs mean for C and
V). (3) Activity, per se, is not responsible for suppression, because
there is little suppression during unspecified, but definite, active
movements (category U); when animals are pooled across groups, the
suppression index for U is not significantly different from zero
(p
0.05), is reliably less than the mean for
activities C and V (p < 0.001), and is not
greater than that for the quiescent condition (p > 0.05).
Fig. 8.
Degree of suppression during specific behaviors.
Black bars show suppression index for behaviors, the
codes of which are indicated (see Table 1) and calculated from pooled
data of Figure 7; open circles show suppression indices
for individual animals.
[View Larger Version of this Image (24K GIF file)]
Suppression of the LG escape reflex is variable from moment to
moment even during a given activity
Compared with control periods (I and III), during which there was
usually a rather sharp and stable stimulus threshold below which LGs
very rarely fired and above which they almost always did (Fig. 7),
thresholds during agonistic encounters were erratic. They varied
markedly from moment to moment within a test session according to the
particular type of activity in which an animal was engaged (Figs. 7,
8). They also varied from time to time even during the occurrence of a
given category of behavior. This is illustrated for data from two
individual sessions in Figure 9. Whereas threshold
during control periods in Figure 9A,B was sharp, it was not
so during encounters for the categories of behavior illustrated; thus,
in A the threshold seems to vary between somewhere below 700 (arrow 1) to ~1100 (arrow 2) and in
B from ~300 (arrow 1) to somewhere above
1100 (arrow 2).
Fig. 9.
Variability of LG reflex thresholds during periods
of suppression from single sessions on subordinates. Raw stimulus
strengths, rather than normalized values, are shown. During
pre and post tests threshold was well
defined, but during R and C activities thresholds were erratic. During each test thresholds seemed to vary
between the levels marked as 1 and 2
(arrows).
[View Larger Version of this Image (19K GIF file)]
The lack of a sharp threshold during agonistic interactions can be seen
quantitatively from analysis of the "spread" parameter (S) of the logistic functions fit to the data (see Materials
and Methods). During control periods the mean value of S
(using normalized stimulus strengths) was 0.09; this means that the
probability of response went from 0.27 to 0.73 as stimulus strength
went from 0.09 below threshold to 0.09 above threshold (threshold here
being unity, because stimulus strengths were normalized to control
period thresholds). By contrast, the value of S averaged
across animals and across each of the types of activities scored during
encounters was 0.32, an approximately three times rise
(p < 0.01). Because the higher values of
S during encounters might have been an artifact of
thresholds being higher during agonistic behavior than during periods I
and III, we repeated this analysis using the ratio of spread to
threshold within each type of activity; S/T rose
from 0.11 during control periods to 0.17 averaged across the activity types scored, a 64% increase (p < 0.05).
Tail flip escape by subordinates during fights is mediated by
voluntary, not reflex escape, circuitry
Although our tests showed the excitability of the LG escape reflex
to be reduced in subordinates during social interactions, subordinates
typically did escape from their conspecifics by tail flip responses
several times per session (although never just at the moment that we
were doing a formal behavioral scoring). To try to resolve this
possible inconsistency, we recorded electrical activity on tape
throughout a number of interaction sessions in six animals so that we
could go back and examine the electrical activity associated with each
spontaneous tail flip. Figure 10 shows the activity
associated with LG and MG tail flips produced by sudden mechanical
stimulation of an isolated subordinate and the activity associated with
a spontaneous tail flip made by the same animal during interaction with
its dominant cohort. It is obvious from these records that the giant
axon spikes associated with the experimenter-evoked reflex flips are
missing from the spontaneous response, which, thus, was mediated by the
nongiant or "voluntary" system. Only 1 of 34 tail flips occurring
spontaneously during encounters had giant axon activity preceding
it.
Fig. 10.
Nongiant escape response of a subordinate during
an agonistic encounter. A, Lateral giant response evoked
by experimenter-produced abdominal tap. B, Medial giant
response evoked by experimenter-produced tap of cephalothorax.
C, Response occurring during agonistic encounter. Dots mark giant axon spikes. Slower potentials are
phasic flexor muscle potentials. Calibration, 2 msec.
[View Larger Version of this Image (9K GIF file)]
DISCUSSION
This study establishes that the excitability of the LG escape
reflex is modulated during agonistic encounters. Furthermore, the
pattern of modulation is different in dominants and subordinates. Excitability of LG escape tends to be reduced substantially in subordinates but only slightly so in dominants. It certainly was not
expected that dominant animals would be more likely to
escape than subordinates, but in retrospect, we believe we can make
sense of this observation.
Why excitability of escape might be greater in dominants than
subordinates during agonistic interactions
Lateral and medial giant escape are stereotyped reflexive
responses providing fairly effective escape from caudally and rostrally located disturbances, respectively. They occur at very short latency and are thus well suited for escape from stimuli that take an animal by
surprise (Wine and Krasne, 1982
). For threats that develop more
gradually, animals can make nongiant mediated ("voluntary") responses that provide for a much wider range of trajectories and can
allow the animal to escape directly away from an obliquely located
threat or to swim via a sequence of tail flips into a home burrow, as
opposed to simply going "backward" or "upward" relative to
previous body position (Wine and Krasne, 1972
; Krasne and Wine, 1984
).
Animals also seem to be able to choose the exact moment of occurrence
of these more flexible responses in an adaptive way; animals that are
restrained and inhibiting reflexive tail flip responses will often
execute nongiant responses at precisely the moment that one slightly
loosens hold on them, thereby breaking free of one's grasp (Krasne and
Wine, 1975
). A variety of lines of evidence indicate that animals that
are preparing to make or actually are producing a nongiant escape
response inhibit circuitry specifically involved in reflexive responses
(Krasne and Wine, 1984
). This makes adaptive sense, because the
occurrence of a stereotyped reflexive response at such times would be
antithetical to the more sophisticated choice and response production
strategies of nongiant escape (Kramer and Krasne, 1984
). We propose
that subordinate animals inhibit reflex escape during agonistic
encounters because the wary subordinate commonly is preparing for or
standing ready to execute nongiant responses, which are the escape mode of choice for an animal that is not being taken by surprise. Consistent with this proposal, we have seen that escape responses produced by
subordinates during encounters are, in fact, mediated by nongiant circuitry.
In contrast to subordinates, dominants usually have little to fear from
their conspecifics, need not be wary, and presumably are not preparing
continually for nongiant (voluntary) escape, although during periods of
intense interaction, they may do so transiently. Thus, in them reflex
escape goes relatively uninhibited. Indeed, it could be argued that,
because dominants are relying heavily on reflexive escape to protect
them from a chance aggressive surge of their partner, it might be
adaptive for their escape reflex excitability actually to increase
during agonistic encounters, particularly during pauses between periods
of more intense interaction. However, we did not see evidence of this
here.
Neurochemical mediation of modulation
Both GABA and, at least in subordinates, serotonin are known to be
able to suppress LG escape via direct action on the LGs (Roberts, 1968
;
Glanzman and Krasne, 1983
; Vu and Krasne, 1993
; Yeh et al., 1996
,
1997
). Both octopamine and, at least in dominants, serotonin can
increase LG reflex excitability (Glanzman and Krasne, 1983
; Yeh et al.,
1996
, 1997
); the octopamine facilitation is known to result in part
from action at the synapse between primary afferents and sensory
interneurons (Bustamante and Krasne, 1991
), but it probably also is
mediated by a direct action on the LGs themselves (Lee and Krasne,
1991
). The effects observed here easily could be produced by these, or
other, agents operating in various combinations. Unfortunately,
measurement of amine release within ganglia or into the blood is not
straightforward, especially in behaving animals, and antagonists
suitable for examining alterations of LG reflex excitability during
agonistic behavior in crayfish with particular transmitter systems
blocked are not at hand. Picrotoxin can block GABA and phentolamine
octopamine action, respectively, but both have nonspecific effects on
behavior that almost certainly would interfere with social interactions
(our unpublished observations). Furthermore, vertebrate serotonin
antagonists that so far have been tried have been without effect on
serotonergic modulation of LG excitability (Vu and Krasne, 1993
).
Although proof that serotonin plays a role in crayfish agonistic
behavior is lacking, the likelihood of such a role is hinted at by
promotion of aggressive stance and increased fighting in crayfish
and/or lobsters injected with serotonin (Livingstone et al., 1980
;
Huber et al., 1995
) and by the observation that the effects of
serotonin on escape are social status-dependent. In particular, the
fact that characteristics of serotonin action seem demonstrably
different between dominants and subordinates and between each of these
and isolates (Yeh et al., 1996
, 1997
) suggests that serotonin is
probably released, both in dominants and subordinates, under
circumstances when status-specific modulation of the LG escape reflex
is required. Obviously, as shown here, agonistic interactions are such
a circumstance; indeed, they are the only known such circumstance.
In subordinates both serotonin and periods of interaction reduce the
excitability of escape. In dominants both serotonin and periods of
interaction have effects different from those seen in
subordinates but also somewhat different from each other, for whereas interaction causes a relatively slight and in some cases negligible inhibition of escape, serotonin actually facilitates it. The
natural and serotonergic modulations do, however, share the paradox
that in both cases modulation causes escape to become much more likely
in dominants than in subordinates. Therefore, if serotonin does
contribute to the natural modulation, the explanation given above for
the behavioral modulation may apply as well to the serotonergic one.
The lack of frank facilitation in dominants during interaction could
imply that, during natural behavior, facilitatory effects of serotonin
are accompanied by other factors that prevent absolute facilitation
from occurring. Indeed, our explanation for the differences in
modulation between dominants and subordinates does not necessarily
predict actual facilitation or even complete lack of inhibition in
dominants, because it would be expected that even dominants should be
wary under some circumstances, for example during periods of intense
sparring with their conspecific; under those circumstances they would
be expected to prepare for execution of voluntary escape maneuvers and
therefore to inhibit LG (note, e.g., Fig. 8, activities V and C in
dominants) and presumably also MG reflex escape. Perhaps on these
occasions the putatively GABA-ergic inhibitory system that operates
during activities like feeding and restraint (Krasne and Lee, 1988
; Vu
and Krasne, 1993
) overshadows serotonin-caused facilitation.
Whatever the validity of these speculations, the underlying basis for
the social status dependency of LG reflex modulation will be an
interesting topic for future work.
FOOTNOTES
Received July 22, 1996; revised Oct. 3, 1996; accepted Nov. 7, 1996.
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant
NS8108. We thank Terri Teshiba for her technical help and Donald
Edwards for reading a version of this manuscript.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dr. Krasne at the above
address.
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