J Neurophysiol (November 1, 2002). 10.1152/jn.00339.2002
Submitted on 6 May 2002
Accepted on 25 July 2002

Activity-Dependent Sensitivity of Proprioceptive Sensory Neurons in the Stick Insect Femoral Chordotonal Organ

 ¹Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio 45701;  ²Department of Neurobiology, University of Ulm, 89069 Ulm, Germany;  ³Zoological Institute, University of Cologne, Weyertal 119, 50923 Cologne, Germany; and  ⁴Institute for Advanced Study, 14193 Berlin, Germany

DiCaprio, Ralph A., Harald Wolf, and Ansgar Büschges. Activity-Dependent Sensitivity of Proprioceptive Sensory Neurons in the Stick Insect Femoral Chordotonal Organ. J. Neurophysiol. 88: 2387-2398, 2002. Mechanosensory neurons exhibit a wide range of dynamic changes in response, including rapid and slow adaptation. In addition to mechanical factors, electrical processes may also contribute to sensory adaptation. We have investigated adaptation of afferent neurons in the stick insect femoral chordotonal organ (fCO). The fCO contains sensory neurons that respond to position, velocity, and acceleration of the tibia. We describe the influence of random mechanical stimulation of the fCO on the response of fCO afferent neurons. The activity of individual sensory neurons was recorded intracellularly from their axons in the main leg nerve. Most fCO afferents (93%) exhibited a marked decrease in response to trapezoidal stimuli following sustained white noise stimulation (bandwidth = 60 Hz, amplitudes from ±5 to ±30°). Concurrent decreases in the synaptic drive to leg motoneurons and interneurons were also observed. Electrical stimulation of spike activity in individual fCO afferents in the absence of mechanical stimulation also led to a dramatic decrease in response in 15 of 19 afferents tested. This indicated that electrical processes are involved in the regulation of the generator potential or encoding of action potentials and partially responsible for the decreased response of the afferents. Replacing Ca²⁺ with Ba²⁺ in the saline surrounding the fCO greatly reduced or blocked the decrease in response elicited by electrically induced activity or mechanical stimulation when compared with control responses. Our results indicate that activity of fCO sensory neurons strongly affects their sensitivity, most likely via Ca²⁺-dependent processes.