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Journal of Experimental Biology 54,815-826 (1971)
Published by Company of Biologists 1971

Intracellular Studies on Pacemaker and Follower Neurones in the Cardiac Ganglion of Limulus

FRED LANG ¹

¹ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois 61801; Department of Zoology, University of Toronto, Toronto 5, Ontario, Canada

1. The three types of large neurones in Limulus cardiac ganglion exhibit activity of the follower cell type. Large neurones are connected by ephaptic junctions.

2. Small bipolar cells and perhaps small multipolar cells behave like pacemaker neurones. They have slowly depolarizing pacemaker potentials between heart beats and single overshooting spike potentials which initiate each ganglionic burst.

3. Intracellular stimulation of pacemaker neurones elicits a burst of spikes in the ganglion, as recorded extracellularly, between spontaneous bursts. Stimulation of pacemaker cells causes a train of spikes in large ganglion cells, as recorded intracellularly.

4. Pacemaker neurones may be electrotonically coupled.