CNS control of the PNS-mediated gill withdrawal reflex and its habituation

Removal of the branchial (Br) nerve input to the gill significantly reduced the latency and increased the amplitude of the gill withdrawal reflex evoked by siphon stimulation. Further, after Br removal repeated siphon stimulation which previously resulted in habituation now resulted in facilitation of the flex. However, the synaptic input to gill motor neurons in the abdominal ganglion continued to decrement as before. In preparations without the peripheral nervous system (PNS), removal of Br did not produce similar results. The gill withdrawal reflex and its habituation are mediated by the PNS, but the CNS exerts facilitatory and suppressive control. Thus, changes in synaptic efficacy to gill motor neurons in the abdominal ganglion are not the ultimate cause of gill reflex habituation. Habituation is the result of adaptive neural processes which occur together in the abdominal ganglion, the PNS, and the peripheral terminations of the central motor pathways to the gill. Therefore, in any analysis of the underlying neural mechanisms of habituation all these loci must be included and taken into account.