QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by MAITLAND, D. P. Articles by HEITLER, W. J. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by MAITLAND, D. P. Articles by HEITLER, W. J.

Journal of Experimental Biology 101,221-231 (1982)
Published by Company of Biologists 1982

A Spiking Stretch Receptor with Centralcell Bodies in the Uropod Coxopodite of the Squat Lobster Galathea Strigosa (Crustacea, Anomura)

D. P. MAITLAND ¹, M. S. LAVERACK ¹, and W. J. HEITLER ¹

¹ Gatty Marine Laboratory, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB Scotland

A proprioceptor located at the base of the uropod coxopodite in the telson of Galathea strigosa is described. The main component of this organ is an elastic strand in which are embedded dendrites from several neurones (approximately II) whose cell bodies are located within the 5th (last free) abdominal ganglion. A small accessory muscle runs parallel to this strand.

Several afferent axons innervating the receptor conduct action potentials in a phasic manner in response to stretch.

Information conveyed to the CNS by the receptor causes reflex modulation of the discharge in at least two motoneurones.

When afferent spikes from the receptor are blocked by sucrose, reflexive discharges are still recorded in response to stretching the receptor. This suggests that certain reflexes may be mediated by transmission of graded electrotonic potentials from the uropod proprioceptor to the CNS.

When sensory hairs on the margins of the uropods are displaced, feedback via the nerves innervating the uropods results in efferent output to the receptor complex (elastic strand and accessory muscle). The receptor also receives bouts of efferent impulses during attempted tail-flips in a restrained animal.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H Aonuma, P. Newland, and T Nagayama Processing of proprioceptive signals by ascending interneurones in the terminal abdominal ganglion of the crayfish J. Exp. Biol., January 11, 1999; 202(21): 2975 - 2984. [Abstract] [PDF]