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The Journal of Experimental Biology 204, 2265-2275 (2001)
© 2001 The Company of Biologists Limited

Physiological characterisation of antennal mechanosensory descending interneurons in an insect (Gryllus bimaculatus, Gryllus campestris) brain

Michael Gebhardt* and Hans-Willi Honegger{dagger}

Institut und Lehrstuhl für Zoologie, Technische Universität München, Lichtenbergstrasse 4, 85747 Garching, Germany
{ddagger} Present address: Department of Biology, Vanderbilt University, Box 1812, Station B, Nashville, TN 37235, USA

*e-mail: Michael.Gebhardt{at}bio.tum.de

Accepted April 18, 2001

We investigated five different descending brain interneurons with dendritic arborizations in the deutocerebrum in the crickets Gryllus bimaculatus and G. campestris. These interneurones convey specific antennal mechanosensory information to the ventral nerve cord and all responded to forced antennal movements. These interneurones coded for velocity and showed preferences for distinct sectors of the total range of antennal movements. Their axons descended into the posterior connective either ipsilateral or contalateral to the cell body. Electrical stimulation of sensory nerves indicated that the interneurons received input from different afferents of the two antennal base segments. One interneuron had a particularly large axon with a conduction velocity of 4.4ms-1. This was the only one of the five interneurons that also received visual input. Its activity was reduced during voluntary antennal movements. The reduction in activity occurred even after de-efferentation of the antenna, indicating that it had a central origin. Although we do not have experimental evidence for behavioural roles for the descending antennal mechanosensory interneurons, the properties described here suggest an involvement in the perception of objects in the path of the cricket.

Key words: insect, cricket, descending brain interneurone, antenna, mechanoreception, vision, efference copy, Gryllus bimaculatus, Gryllus campestris.




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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2001