When complex neuronal structures may not matter.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28165322.
- Also identified by DOI 10.7554/eLife.23508 and PMC identifier 5323043.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Much work has explored animal-to-animal variability and compensation in ion channel expression. Yet, little is known regarding the physiological consequences of morphological variability. We quantify animal-to-animal variability in cable lengths (CV = 0.4) and branching patterns in the Gastric Mill (GM) neuron, an identified neuron type with highly-conserved physiological properties in the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of <i>Cancer borealis.</i> We examined passive GM electrotonic structure by measuring the amplitudes and apparent reversal potentials (E<sub>rev</sub>s) of inhibitory responses evoked with focal glutamate photo-uncaging in the presence of TTX. Apparent E<sub>rev</sub>s were relatively invariant across sites (mean CV ± SD = 0.04 ± 0.01; 7-20 sites in each of 10 neurons), which ranged between 100-800 µm from the somatic recording site. Thus, GM neurons are remarkably electrotonically compact (estimated λ > 1.5 mm). Electrotonically compact structures, in consort with graded transmission, provide an elegant solution to observed morphological variability in the STG.
Medical subject headings
- Action Potentials
- Ganglia, Invertebrate
- Gizzard, Non-avian
- Nerve Net
- Neurons