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Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 203, Issue 9 1433-1446, Copyright © 2000 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Changes in electric organ discharge after pausing the electromotor system of Gymnotus carapo

S Schuster
Institut fur Biologie I, Hauptstrasse 1, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat Freiburg, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany. schustef@ruf.uni-freiburg.de.

During their entire lives, weakly electric fish produce an uninterrupted train of discharges to electrolocate objects and to communicate. In an attempt to learn about activity-dependent processes that might be involved in this ability, the continuous train of discharges of intact Gymnotus carapo was experimentally interrupted to investigate how this pausing affects post-pause electric organ discharges. In particular, an analysis was conducted of how the amplitude and relative timing of the three major deflections of the complex discharge change over the course of the first 1000 post-pause discharges. The dependence of these variables on the duration of the preceding pause and on water temperature is analysed. In addition, pause-induced small reverberations at the end of the discharge are described. Common to all amplitude changes is a fast initial decrease in amplitude with a slow recovery phase; amplitude changes scale with the duration of the preceding pause and are independent of the interdischarge interval. The absence of changes in the postsynaptic-potential-derived first phase of the discharge together with changes in the amplitude ratio of the third and fourth deflections suggest that the amplitude changes are mainly due to pause-induced changes in the inner resistance of the electric organ. A model is formulated that approximates the pattern of amplitude changes. The post-pause changes described here may provide a new way to test current models of complex discharge generation in Gymnotus carapo and illustrate the speed at which changes of an electric organ discharge can take place.
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This article has been cited by other articles:


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 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
S. Schuster and N. Otto
Sensitivity to novel feedback at different phases of a gymnotid electric organ discharge
J. Exp. Biol., November 1, 2002; 205(21): 3307 - 3320.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
S. Schuster
Behavioral evidence for post-pause reduced responsiveness in the electrosensory system of Gymnotus carapo
J. Exp. Biol., August 15, 2002; 205(16): 2525 - 2533.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2000