spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ocker, W.
Right arrow Articles by Hedwig, B.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ocker, W.
Right arrow Articles by Hedwig, B.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 199, Issue 3 653-662, Copyright © 1996 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Interneurones involved in stridulatory pattern generation in the grasshopper Chorthippus mollis (Charp.)

W Ocker and B Hedwig

In tethered grasshoppers, Chorthippus mollis, stridulatory leg movements were elicited by d.c. brain stimulation. Stridulatory chirps comprise both slow up-and-down movements and rapid oscillations of the hindlegs. Intracellular recording, stimulation and staining of interneurones within the metathoracic ganglion complex were performed simultaneously with recordings of leg movement. Five interneurones were identified in the metathoracic ganglion complex. The branching patterns of these interneurones were typical of stridulatory interneurones. Three of these neurones had a structure very similar to stridulatory interneurones already characterized in the species Omocestus viridulus. During stridulation, the spike activity of all interneurones was phasically coupled to the chirp rhythm; two interneurones additionally exhibited coupling to the rapid leg oscillations. Intracellular stimulation of interneurones A1-AC-2 and A1-AI-1 prolonged the duration of the rapid leg oscillations and influenced the generation of the chirp rhythm. Interneurones T3-LI-2 and T3-LC-4 decreased the amplitude of the slow up-and-down movement. The data indicate that at least part of the metathoracic stridulatory network of C. mollis is organized in a structurally and functionally similar way to that of O. viridulus.




© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1996