Fig. 5. (A) Simultaneous extracellular recording from three of the FG efferent nerves (see Fig. 1) in vitro. Data demonstrate spontaneous rhythmic bursting activity in all the recorded nerves. (B) The area marked by the bar in A is amplified to reveal a three-phase rhythmic pattern of the different members of the FG pattern generator (Bi). The graph in Bii shows burst profiles of the activity recorded on the three nerves in the same time window as in Bi. The cumulative peak amplitudes are plotted as a function of time (see Materials and methods). Six consecutive sweeps as in Bi were normalized and overlaid. Different bursts display similar profiles. Different nerves have distinct profiles and exhibit clear time lags in their onset times, burst end times, and recovery profile. Quantitative parameterization of the burst is performed by linear fits to different phases of the bursts (corresponding to normalized rates) and extrapolation of the crossover times between these linear regimes (marked by dotted lines). These analyses are performed on multi-burst average profiles, and are only schematically shown in the figure.

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