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Journal of Experimental Biology 59,383-403 (1973)
Published by Company of Biologists 1973

Modification of the Motor Reflex Responses Due to Repetition of the Peripheral Stimulus in the Cockroach : II. Conditions of Activation of the Motoneurones

N. F. ZILBER-GACHELIN ¹ and M. P. CHARTIER ²

¹ Université de Paris, Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie comparée, 9, quai Saint-Bernard, 75005 Paris, France; Laboratoire de Neurobiologie cellulaire, C.N.R.S., 91190 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
² Université de Paris, Laboratoire de Neurophysiologie comparée, 9, quai Saint-Bernard, 75005 Paris, France

1. The synaptic transfer properties within the 3rd thoracic ganglion (T.G.) from the abdominal cord axons to the motoneurones has been studied in the cockroach. This ganglion was completely de-afferented except for motor nerve 4, whose links with the muscles of the posterior legs were left intact.

2. The response of one of these nerves to electrical stimulation of the abdominal cord involves activation of 2 types of units:

(a) Slow excitatory fibres which have a tonic discharge and respond to each lowthreshold abdominal cord stimulation by a transient increase of this firing rate; these units are responsible for muscular tonus and for low amplitude movements (startle reactions).

(b) Fast excitatory fibres, which have no tonic discharge and require for their activation higher intensity and frequency of stimulation, i.e. an important temporal and spatial summation. They are responsible for larger and more rapid movements. They fire without any precise chronological relation with the stimuli, often in bursts which continue after the end of the stimulations and cause sudden rhythmic movements.

3. During repetition of the stimuli, the two types of synaptic pathways show both habituation and facilitation through temporal summation and post-tetanic potentiation. These two phenomena persist after the end of the stimulations and have long (minutes) but different time courses. Moreover, habituation always prevails over facilitation if stimulations are continued during a sufficient time. These antagonistic properties existing at the same time might explain the complex way in which the motor responses develop with the application of repetitive trains of stimuli to the cord.

4. The role of these properties in the changes of the reflex motor responses to successive air puffs applied to the cerci has been studied. These properties appear to be responsible for the sensitization of the responses which can be sometimes observed. They lead, in conjunction with the habituation properties of the 6th abdominal ganglion (A.G.), to the disappearance of the escape reflex involving firing of both fast and slow fibres. Finally, they seem to have a minor role in habituation of the startle reactions (involving firing of only the slow fibres) which would be mainly due to the 6th A.G. habituability.

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