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The Swimmeret System of Crayfish: A Practical Guide for the Dissection of the Nerve Cord and Extracellular Recordings of the Motor Pattern
Published on: November 25, 2014
Single synapse information coding in intraburst spike patterns of central pattern generator motor neurons.
Ludmila Brochini1, Pedro V Carelli, Reynaldo D Pinto
1Department of Physics and Informatics, Institute of Physics of São Carlos, University of São Paulo, São Carlos 13566-590, Brazil.
Summary
Burst firing in central pattern generators (CPGs) carries dual information. Intraburst spike patterns (IBSPs) encode network activity, complementing the rhythm
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Computational Neuroscience
- Systems Neuroscience
Background:
- Burst firing is common in nervous systems and central pattern generators (CPGs).
- Intraburst spike patterns (IBSPs) are cell-type specific and sensitive to CPG connectivity.
- The information-carrying capacity of IBSPs has been largely overlooked.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how bursting motor neurons encode information about other neurons within a network.
- To explore the role of intraburst spike patterns (IBSPs) in neural information processing.
Main Methods:
- Experiments were conducted on the crustacean stomatogastric pyloric CPG.
- Real-time interactions between biological CPGs and computer model neurons were utilized.
- Average mutual information was computed to assess the sensitivity of postsynaptic to presynaptic IBSPs.
Main Results:
- Input patterns are nonlinearly and inhomogeneously coded into the fine structure of postsynaptic IBSPs.
- Motor neurons use distinct timescales to convey information about muscle contraction (burst rhythm) and network activity (IBSPs).
- A novel information pathway from CPG motor neurons to sensory brain areas via IBSPs was identified.
Conclusions:
- Intraburst spike patterns (IBSPs) serve as critical carriers of network information in CPGs.
- This coding mechanism allows for simultaneous transmission of motor output and network state information.
- IBSPs play a broader physiological role in regulating neuronal firing patterns in remote circuits by the central nervous system (CNS).
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