Orientation-dependent changes in single motor neuron activity during adaptive soft-bodied locomotion

Brain, Behavior and Evolution
Cinzia Metallo, B A Trimmer

Abstract

Recent major advances in understanding the organizational principles underlying motor control have focused on a small number of animal species with stiff articulated skeletons. These model systems have the advantage of easily quantifiable mechanics, but the neural codes underlying different movements are difficult to characterize because they typically involve a large population of neurons controlling each muscle. As a result, studying how neural codes drive adaptive changes in behavior is extremely challenging. This problem is highly simplified in the tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta, which, in its larval stage (caterpillar), is predominantly soft-bodied. Since each M. sexta muscle is innervated by one, occasionally two, excitatory motor neurons, the electrical activity generated by each muscle can be mapped to individual motor neurons. In the present study, muscle activation patterns were converted into motor neuron frequency patterns by identifying single excitatory junction potentials within recorded electromyographic traces. This conversion was carried out with single motor neuron resolution thanks to the high signal selectivity of newly developed flexible microelectrode arrays, which were specifically designed to record fro...Continue Reading

Citations

May 5, 2018·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Ritwika MukherjeeBarry A Trimmer
Mar 5, 2020·Developmental Neurobiology·Charalampos MantziarisAnsgar Büschges
Jun 13, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Cinzia MetalloBarry A Trimmer
Mar 11, 2016·Bioinspiration & Biomimetics·T UmedachiB A Trimmer
Jun 8, 2018·Journal of Insect Science·Samuel C VaughanBarry A Trimmer

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