Localization of the enhanced input to cockroach giant interneurons after partial deafferentation

The ventral giant interneurons (GIs) in the cockroach have two distinct dendritic fields: a small one ipsilateral to the soma, and a larger, contralateral field from which the axon arises. The major input to these GIs is from the cercus on the axon side; when this cercus is ablated in the last instar before the adult stage, input from the other cercus becomes more effective within 30 days (Vardi and Camhi, 1982b). I wished to determine if the input from the intact, soma-ipsilateral cercus contacted the GIs purely ipsilaterally and if EPSPs at this site were larger in deafferented animals. Consistent with earlier anatomical findings, intracellular recordings from the GI somata showed that the majority of cercal inputs synapse on their own side of the ganglion in normal animals. This was evidenced by differences in the size and shape of the synaptic potentials evoked from the two cerci and by the presence of large EPSPs after a ganglion had been split along the midline. Unitary EPSPs produced by stimulation of single, identified cercal afferents, ipsilateral to the soma, were compared between normal and deafferented animals. Column "h" afferents were chosen because they make a large contribution to the receptive fields of GIs 1 and 2 after ablation of the contralateral cercus. In addition, the arbors of these afferents, when stained with cobalt, did not cross the ganglionic midline in normal animals. Unitary EPSPs recorded in GI 2 were significantly larger in the deafferented animals. There was, however, no significant change in the size of EPSPs in GI 1. Nevertheless, the results from GI 2 suggest that partial deafferentation in the central nervous system can increase the efficacy of synapses distant from the locus of denervation.