Regulation of the crab heartbeat by FMRFamide-like peptides: multiple interacting effects on center and periphery

We are studying the functional "logic" of neuromodulatory actions in a simple central pattern generator (CPG)-effector system, the heart of the blue crab Callinectes sapidus. The rhythmic contractions of this heart are neurogenic, driven by rhythmic motor patterns generated by the cardiac ganglion (CG). Here we used anatomical and physiological methods to examine the sources and actions on the system of the FMRFamide-like peptides (FLPs) TNRNFLRFamide (F(1)), SDRNFLRFamide (F(2)), and GYNRSFLRFamide, an authentic Callinectes FLP. Immunohistochemical localization revealed a plexus of FLP-immunoreactive fibers in the pericardial organs (POs), from which modulators are released to reach the heart as circulating neurohormones. Combined backfill and immunohistochemical experiments indicated that the FLPs in the POs originated in the CNS, from large neurosecretory cells in the B cluster of the first thoracic neuromere. In physiological experiments, we examined the actions of the FLPs on the intact working heart, on the semi-intact heart in which we could record the motor patterns as well as the muscle contractions, on the isolated CG, and in a preparation developed to assess direct actions on the muscle with controlled patterns of motor neuron spikes. The FLPs had strong positive chronotropic and inotropic effects. Dissection of these effects suggested that they were produced through at least two primary actions of the FLPs exerted both on the heart muscle and on the CG. These primary actions elicited numerous secondary consequences mediated by the feedforward and feedback interactions that integrate the activity of the complete, coupled CPG-effector system.