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J Neurophysiol 99: 3104-3122, 2008. First published March 26, 2008; doi:10.1152/jn.00042.2008
0022-3077/08 $8.00

This Article Free upon publication Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 99/6/3104    most recent 00042.2008v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Rehm, K. J. Articles by Marder, E. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Rehm, K. J. Articles by Marder, E.

Spectral Analyses Reveal the Presence of Adult-Like Activity in the Embryonic Stomatogastric Motor Patterns of the Lobster, Homarus americanus

Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts

Submitted 11 January 2008; accepted in final form 25 March 2008

The stomatogastric nervous system (STNS) of the embryonic lobster is rhythmically active prior to hatching, before the network is needed for feeding. In the adult lobster, two rhythms are typically observed: the slow gastric mill rhythm and the more rapid pyloric rhythm. In the embryo, rhythmic activity in both embryonic gastric mill and pyloric neurons occurs at a similar frequency, which is slightly slower than the adult pyloric frequency. However, embryonic motor patterns are highly irregular, making traditional burst quantification difficult. Consequently, we used spectral analysis to analyze long stretches of simultaneous recordings from muscles innervated by gastric and pyloric neurons in the embryo. This analysis revealed that embryonic gastric mill neurons intermittently produced pauses and periods of slower activity not seen in the recordings of the output from embryonic pyloric neurons. The slow activity in the embryonic gastric mill neurons increased in response to the exogenous application of Cancer borealis tachykinin-related peptide 1a (CabTRP), a modulatory peptide that appears in the inputs to the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) late in larval development. These results suggest that the STG network can express adult-like rhythmic behavior before fully differentiated adult motor patterns are observed, and that the maturation of the neuromodulatory inputs is likely to play a role in the eventual establishment of the adult motor patterns.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. J. Rehm, K. E. Deeg, and E. Marder Developmental Regulation of Neuromodulator Function in the Stomatogastric Ganglion of the Lobster, Homarus americanus J. Neurosci., September 24, 2008; 28(39): 9828 - 9839. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]