spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online March 31, 2007
Journal of Experimental Biology 210, iii (2007)
Copyright © 2007 The Company of Biologists Limited
doi: 10.1242/jeb.02773
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Blackburn, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Blackburn, L.

Inside JEB

NEURONS SURVIVE BETTER IN DOMINANT CRAYFISH

Laura Blackburn

laura{at}biologists.com


Figure 1

If a crayfish wants to know who's boss, it will use its sense of smell. Crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) fight each other and use chemical signals to form stable dominance hierarchies, with the winners becoming dominant and the losers subordinate. In the crayfish's brain, there are two clusters of cells, 9 and 10, containing neurons which process smell. New cells are added throughout an animal's life, which could help in the processing of olfactory signals to work out who's at the top. During her PhD research at Georgia State University, Atlanta, Cha-Kyong Song (now at Ewha Womans University, Korea) and colleagues hoped to find out if social interactions affected proliferation and survival of neurons in these two brain areas by measuring DNA synthesis and cell division in clusters 9 and 10 (p. 1311).

The team paired up juvenile crayfish and filmed their behaviour to find out who was dominant, and who subordinate, before examining their brains. While neuron proliferation was the same in subordinates and dominants, newborn neurons were more likely to survive in cluster 9 in dominant crayfish 14 days after their social interaction, even when body growth rate was taken into account. This suggests that social dominance enhances the survival of newborn neurons involved in processing smell, helping crayfish sniff out the opposition.

References

Song, C.-K., Johnstone, L. M., Schmidt, M., Derby, C. D. and Edwards, D. H. (2007). Social domination increases neuronal survival in the brain of juvenile crayfish Procambarus clarkii. J. Exp. Biol. 210,1311 -1324.[Abstract/Free Full Text]


Related articles in JEB:

Social domination increases neuronal survival in the brain of juvenile crayfish Procambarus clarkii
Cha-Kyong Song, Laurel M. Johnstone, Manfred Schmidt, Charles D. Derby, and Donald H. Edwards
JEB 2007 210: 1311-1324. [Abstract] [Full Text]  




This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in JEB
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Blackburn, L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Blackburn, L.