Development of sensory processes during limb regeneration in adult crayfish

The capacity of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii to regenerate its walking legs provides a system for studying the mechanisms of neural regeneration and repair. A set number of excitatory and inhibitory motor neurons innervate all the limb musculature throughout the normal development and regeneration of a limb. The cell bodies of the motor neurons reside within the segmental ganglion and, upon loss of the limb, their axons regrow from their severed distal ends. The cell bodies of the sensory neurons, in contrast, are located close to their sensory endings within the limb, and they are therefore lost, along with the limb, upon autotomy, leaving the severed, distal axonal stumps of the sensory neurons within the ganglionic root. During the regeneration of a limb, new sensory neurons develop within the limb, and their axons must then grow into the ganglionic root to make the appropriate connections for the new limb to become functional. Evidence is presented in the present paper that the sensory axonal stumps do not degenerate before the new sensory neurons appear within the root as the limb regenerates. These results also indicate a progressive advance of growth cones, presumably sensory in origin, towards the neuropil within the ganglion over time.