Modulation of activity in sensory neurons and wind-sensitive interneurons by cercal displacement in the cockroach

1. The cockroach Periplaneta americana can modify the sensory activity received by its central nervous system from the cerci, paired abdominal wind-responsive appendages. Medial displacement of the cerci produces a reduction in the number of sensory action potentials (AP's) elicited by a wind stimulus (Fig. 2) (Libersat et al. 1987; Golstein and Camhi 1988). This movement occurs naturally, for example during flying. 2. This sensory reduction is present when measured as the integral of extracellularly recorded activity as well as when counting the number of AP's larger than a threshold voltage just larger than the background noise (Fig. 2C). 3. Histological results confirm prior physiological experiments suggesting that the reduction may be produced by mechanical forces on the sensory nerve, rather than synaptically (Fig. 4). 4. The wind-response of interneurons is significantly diminished by the sensory reduction when measured either extra- or intracellularly (Figs. 5, 6). Cells affected include identified ventral and dorsal giant interneurons (GI's), which carry directional information about wind from the abdominal cerci to the more anterior portions of the nervous system, and are involved in flying (Camhi 1980; Ritzmann 1984; Comer 1985). 5. The reduction in the interneuronal response was unaffected by the elimination of input from descending central pathways, and input from a cercal chordotonal organ that senses cercal position and inhibits some of the GI's (Fig. 5). Thus, the reduction in wind-evoked sensory activity can itself account for the modulation of interneuron activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)