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Optokinetic eye movements in the crab,Carcinus maenas

II. Responses of optokinetic interneurons

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Extracellular micro-electrode recordings from the optic lobe of crabs have revealed that there are interneurons which are unidirectionally sensitive to a horizontally moving striped pattern. These neurons have their axons in a bundle running between the internal medulla and the terminal medulla.

  2. 2.

    Three classes of units are identified using a number of criteria to separate them, and the response range of two classes of interneurons spans the behavioural capabilities of the optokinetic system over 4 decades of angular velocity.

  3. 3.

    Small changes in frequency of the interneuron discharges are correlated with small variations in the simultaneously measured eye torque, and recordings from the interneurons during the fast phase of nystagmus show that there is a centrally generated depression of the interneuron discharge after the fast phase.

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References

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Author notes

  1. D. C. Sandeman

    Present address: Dept. of Neurobiology, R.S.B.S., Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zoologisches Institut der Technischen Hochschule Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Federal Republic of Germany

    D. C. Sandeman, J. Kien & J. Erber

Authors
  1. D. C. Sandeman
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  2. J. Kien
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  3. J. Erber
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Additional information

Carried out on DFG grant no. 741,29.

On an Alexander v. Humboldt Stipendium.

We acknowledge the able assistance of Joy Nelson who sectioned and processed all the optic lobes in which we had marked the recording sites, and who reconstructed the optic ganglia. The work would have been impossible without the considerable encouragement and support given to us by Prof. Dr. Randolf Menzel, and the generous assistance of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Sandeman, D.C., Kien, J. & Erber, J. Optokinetic eye movements in the crab,Carcinus maenas . J. Comp. Physiol. 101, 259–274 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00657186

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00657186

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