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 Similar articles in PubMed 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 Brodfuehrer, P. D. Articles by Hoy, R. R. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Brodfuehrer, P. D. Articles by Hoy, R. R.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 145, Issue 1 157-171, Copyright © 1989 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Integration of ultrasound and flight inputs on descending neurons in the cricket brain

PD Brodfuehrer and RR Hoy
Section of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.

In response to ultrasonic stimuli, tethered flying crickets perform evasive steering movements that are directed away from the sound source (negative phonotaxis). In this study we have investigated the responsiveness to ultrasound of neurons that descend from the cricket brain, and whether flight activity facilitates the responsiveness of these neurons. 1. Ultrasonic stimuli evoke descending activity in the cervical connectives both ipsilateral and contralateral to the sound source. 2. Both the amount of descending activity and the latency of this response in the cervical connectives are linearly correlated with ultrasonic stimulus intensity, regardless of the cricket's behavioral state. 3. Flight activity significantly increases the amount of descending activity evoked by ultrasound at all stimulus intensities, and significantly decreases the latency of the response in the cervical connectives compared with non-flying crickets. Flight activity, however, does not significantly affect the activity in an interneuron (Int-1) carrying ultrasound input to the brain. Thus, the increase in the amount of descending activity produced during flight activity is due to the integration of input from Int-1 and the flight motor system to ultrasound-sensitive neurons in the cricket brain. 4. Descending units recorded in the cervical connectives originate in the cricket brain. A reduction in the amount of descending activity is correlated with a decrease in the magnitude of the negative phonotactic response of the abdomen during flight activity, suggesting that these descending units play a role in eliciting negative phonotaxis.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				T. Baden and B. Hedwig Front leg movements and tibial motoneurons underlying auditory steering in the cricket (Gryllus bimaculatus deGeer) J. Exp. Biol., July 1, 2008; 211(13): 2123 - 2133. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				G. Marsat and G. S. Pollack A Behavioral Role for Feature Detection by Sensory Bursts J. Neurosci., October 11, 2006; 26(41): 10542 - 10547. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]