Fig. 5. Membrane potential responses of the cardiac ganglion (CG) neuron to stretches. (A) A schematic drawing of the experimental set-up for applying transverse stretches to the anterior half of the opened heart. After dissection, the lateral rims of only the thoracic tergites remained attached to the heart via pericardial septum. The heart wall in the posterior half was pinned extensively onto the fixed stage. (B—D) Membrane potential recordings from the CG neuron. In each record: upper trace, intracellular record from the cell body of the 6th CG neuron (Cell-6); lower trace, applied stretches shown by the amount of displacement of the unfixed stage. In B, stretch pulses (duration, 1.0 s; amplitude, 0.8 mm) were applied repetitively at 0.2 Hz. In C and D, the unfixed stage was moved in sinusoidal waveforms at 0.2 Hz (C) and 0.5 Hz (D).