Anatomy and activity patterns in a multifunctional motor neuron and its surrounding circuits
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Dorsal Excitor motor neuron DE-3 in the medicinal leech plays three very different dynamical roles in three different behaviors. Without rewiring its anatomical connectivity, how can a motor neuron dynamically switch roles to play appropriate roles in various behaviors? We previously used voltage-sensitive dye imaging to record from DE-3 and most other neurons in the leech segmental ganglion during (fictive) swimming, crawling, and local-bend escape (Tomina and Wagenaar, 2017). Here, we repeated that experiment, then re-imaged the same ganglion using serial blockface electron microscopy and traced DE-3's processes. Further, we traced back the processes of DE-3's presynaptic partners to their respective somata. This allowed us to analyze the relationship between circuit anatomy and the activity patterns it sustains. We found that input synapses important for all the behaviors were widely distributed over DE-3's branches, yet that functional clusters were different during (fictive) swimming vs. crawling.
Source: eLife
DOI: 10.7554/elife.61881
Language: English
Subfield: Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
Field: Neuroscience
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,500
Awards: G1018847884, Toward understanding the principle of neuronal computation in learning behaviors: Pan-neuronal analysis in the central nervous system of the leech, G1849445519, G1912688976, G251319137, IVEM and Image Analysis Resource, G3337127418, Neurophysiological mechanisms underlying population dynamics of sensitization learning in the leech nervous system, Behavioral and neural effects of expectation and attention for visual search in natural scenes, National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research: A BRAIN Technology Integration and Dissemination Resource
OpenAlex ID: W3130084904