QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

HOME  |   SEARCH  |   ARCHIVE  |   SUBSCRIBE  |   CONTACT  |   HELP

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit an eLetter Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (35) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shaw, B. K. Articles by Kristan Jr., W. B. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shaw, B. K. Articles by Kristan Jr., W. B.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Volume 17, Number 2, Issue of January 15, 1997 pp. 786-795
Copyright ©1997 Society for Neuroscience

The Neuronal Basis of the Behavioral Choice between Swimming and Shortening in the Leech: Control Is Not Selectively Exercised at Higher Circuit Levels

Received Aug. 9, 1996; revised Oct. 30, 1996; accepted Oct. 31, 1996.

Brian K. Shaw and William B. Kristan Jr.

Department of Biology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0357

Swimming and the whole-body shortening reflex are two incompatible behaviors performed by the medicinal leech Hirudo medicinalis. We set out to examine the neuronal basis of the choice between these behaviors, taking advantage of the fact that the neuronal circuit underlying swimming is relatively well understood. The leech swim circuit is organized hierarchically and contains three interneuronal levels, including two upper levels of "command-like" neurons. We tested the responses of the swim circuit neurons to stimuli that produced shortening, using reduced preparations in which neurophysiological recording could be performed while behaviors were elicited. We found that the majority of the swim circuit neurons, including most of the command-like cells and all of the cells at the highest hierarchical level of the circuit, were excited by stimuli that produced shortening as well as by stimuli that produced swimming. Only a subset of neurons, at levels below the top, were inhibited during shortening; these included one of the command-like cells and an oscillator cell (an interneuron that is part of the central pattern generator for swimming). These results imply that the control of the choice between swimming and shortening is not exercised selectively at the higher levels of the swim circuit.

Key words: Hirudo medicinalis; swimming; shortening; behavioral choice; decision-making; motor control; command neuron

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. C. Liao and J. R. Fetcho Shared versus Specialized Glycinergic Spinal Interneurons in Axial Motor Circuits of Larval Zebrafish J. Neurosci., November 26, 2008; 28(48): 12982 - 12992. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Jing, F. S. Vilim, E. C. Cropper, and K. R. Weiss Neural Analog of Arousal: Persistent Conditional Activation of a Feeding Modulator by Serotonergic Initiators of Locomotion J. Neurosci., November 19, 2008; 28(47): 12349 - 12361. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Berkowitz Physiology and Morphology of Shared and Specialized Spinal Interneurons for Locomotion and Scratching J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2008; 99(6): 2887 - 2901. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				W. H. Liden and J. Herberholz Behavioral and neural responses of juvenile crayfish to moving shadows J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2008; 211(9): 1355 - 1361. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Sasaki, J. Jing, M. R. Due, and K. R. Weiss An Input-Representing Interneuron Regulates Spike Timing and Thereby Phase Switching in a Motor Network J. Neurosci., February 20, 2008; 28(8): 1916 - 1928. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. J. Calin-Jageman, M. J. Tunstall, B. D. Mensh, P. S. Katz, and W. N. Frost Parameter Space Analysis Suggests Multi-Site Plasticity Contributes to Motor Pattern Initiation in Tritonia J Neurophysiol, October 1, 2007; 98(4): 2382 - 2398. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. L. Briggman and W. B. Kristan Jr Imaging dedicated and multifunctional neural circuits generating distinct behaviors. J. Neurosci., October 18, 2006; 26(42): 10925 - 10933. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. M. Crisp and K. A. Mesce Beyond the central pattern generator: amine modulation of decision-making neural pathways descending from the brain of the medicinal leech J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2006; 209(9): 1746 - 1756. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Garcia-Perez, A. Mazzoni, D. Zoccolan, H. P. C. Robinson, and V. Torre Statistics of Decision Making in the Leech J. Neurosci., March 9, 2005; 25(10): 2597 - 2608. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. L. Briggman, H. D. I. Abarbanel, and W. B. Kristan Jr. Optical Imaging of Neuronal Populations During Decision-Making Science, February 11, 2005; 307(5711): 896 - 901. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. M. Crisp and K. A. Mesce A cephalic projection neuron involved in locomotion is dye coupled to the dopaminergic neural network in the medicinal leech J. Exp. Biol., December 15, 2004; 207(26): 4535 - 4542. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. P. Beenhakker and M. P. Nusbaum Mechanosensory Activation of a Motor Circuit by Coactivation of Two Projection Neurons J. Neurosci., July 28, 2004; 24(30): 6741 - 6750. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Esch, K. A. Mesce, and W. B. Kristan Evidence for Sequential Decision Making in the Medicinal Leech J. Neurosci., December 15, 2002; 22(24): 11045 - 11054. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Esch and W. B. Kristan Jr. Decision-Making in the Leech Nervous System Integr. Comp. Biol., August 1, 2002; 42(4): 716 - 724. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Y. Malyshev and T. P. Norekian Phase-Locked Coordination Between Two Rhythmically Active Feeding Structures in the Mollusk Clione limacina. I. Motor Neurons J Neurophysiol, June 1, 2002; 87(6): 2996 - 3005. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. T. Morgan, J. Jing, F. S. Vilim, and K. R. Weiss Interneuronal and Peptidergic Control of Motor Pattern Switching in Aplysia J Neurophysiol, January 1, 2002; 87(1): 49 - 61. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				I. Arisi, D. Zoccolan, and V. Torre Distributed Motor Pattern Underlying Whole-Body Shortening in the Medicinal Leech J Neurophysiol, November 1, 2001; 86(5): 2475 - 2488. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Berkowitz Rhythmicity of Spinal Neurons Activated During Each Form of Fictive Scratching in Spinal Turtles J Neurophysiol, August 1, 2001; 86(2): 1026 - 1036. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. P. Norekian and R. A. Satterlie Serotonergic Neural System not only Activates Swimming but also Inhibits Competing Neural Centers in a Pteropod Mollusc Integr. Comp. Biol., August 1, 2001; 41(4): 993 - 1000. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Jing and R. Gillette Escape Swim Network Interneurons Have Diverse Roles in Behavioral Switching and Putative Arousal in Pleurobranchaea J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2000; 83(3): 1346 - 1355. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Hedwig Control of Cricket Stridulation by a Command Neuron: Efficacy Depends on the Behavioral State J Neurophysiol, February 1, 2000; 83(2): 712 - 722. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. K. Shaw and W. B. Kristan Jr. Relative Roles of the S Cell Network and Parallel Interneuronal Pathways in the Whole-Body Shortening Reflex of the Medicinal Leech J Neurophysiol, September 1, 1999; 82(3): 1114 - 1123. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. E. Lewis and W. B. Kristan Jr Quantitative Analysis of a Directed Behavior in the Medicinal Leech: Implications for Organizing Motor Output J. Neurosci., February 15, 1998; 18(4): 1571 - 1582. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home  |   Search  |   Archive  |   Subscribe  |   Contact  |   Help