Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

A central pattern generator producing alternative outputs: temporal pattern of premotor activity.

Brian J Norris1, Adam L Weaver, Lee G Morris

  • 1Department of Biology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.

Journal of Neurophysiology
|April 14, 2006
PubMed
Summary

The leech heartbeat central pattern generator creates asymmetric coordination between heart interneurons, controlling synchronous and peristaltic beating modes via specific switch interneurons.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Uncovering the invisible giant: Amyloid beta plaques and their proposed association with waste removal in Alzheimer-affected human hippocampus.

Research square·2026
Same author

Blue plaque review series: Thomas Graham Brown: Before his time.

Experimental physiology·2026
Same author

Persistent adaptation through dual-timescale regulation of ion channel properties.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026
Same author

Giant spider neurons uncover a myelin-derived waste-internalizing canal system that fails in neurodegeneration.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Persistent Adaptation through Dual-Timescale Regulation of Ion Channel Properties.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
Same author

Relative timescale of channel voltage dependence and channel density regulation impacts assembly and recovery of activity.

eLife·2025

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Computational Biology
  • Animal Physiology

Background:

  • The medicinal leech heartbeat is controlled by a central pattern generator (CPG) comprising seven pairs of segmental heart interneurons.
  • Specific inhibitory synaptic connections exist between heart interneurons and segmental heart motor neurons.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To quantitatively describe the interneuronal coordination patterns within the leech heartbeat CPG.
  • To identify the mechanisms controlling different coordination modes (synchronous and peristaltic).

Main Methods:

  • Extracellular recordings from multiple interneurons in 56 isolated leech nerve cords.
  • Quantitative analysis of premotor interneuron firing patterns (phase, duty cycle, intraburst frequency).

Related Experiment Videos

Main Results:

  • The CPG generates asymmetric intersegmental coordination among ipsilateral premotor interneurons, leading to asymmetric fictive motor patterns and heart constriction.
  • Two coordination modes, synchronous and peristaltic, were identified with phase constancy across varying periods.
  • Coordination mode switching is controlled by a specific pair of heart interneurons (switch interneurons) based on their activity state.

Conclusions:

  • Timing and pattern elaboration in the heartbeat CPG are likely handled by overlapping subnetworks.
  • Switch interneurons play a crucial role in regulating heartbeat coordination modes through their activity patterns.