Dendritic Initiation and Propagation of Spikes and Spike Bursts in a Multimodal Sensory Interneuron: The Crustacean Parasol Cell

• Published in: Journal of neurophysiology 2003-10, Vol.90 (4), p.2465-2477
• Main Author: Mellon, DeForest, Jr
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Action Potentials - physiology; Animals; Astacoidea - cytology; Astacoidea - physiology; Dendrites - physiology; Freshwater; Interneurons - cytology; Interneurons - physiology; Neurons, Afferent - cytology; Neurons, Afferent - physiology; Procambarus clarkii; Prosencephalon - cytology; Prosencephalon - physiology
• ISSN: 0022-3077; 1522-1598
• DOI: 10.1152/jn.00310.2003

Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903 Submitted 28 March 2003; accepted in final form 25 May 2003 Invasion of dendrites by spikes and spike bursts can play a critical role in regulating the output of central neurons by modifying their dynamic input-output relationships. Back-propagating bursts can modulate voltage-gated channels in the short term and can also modify long-term responses to synaptic input. Determining the morphological site of spike initiation and the mode of propagation through the dendritic arbor is therefore crucial to an understanding of a neuron's functional properties. I used electrophysiological methods to study parasol cells in isolated, perfused head preparations of the freshwater crayfish Procambarus clarkii to determine the compartment of origin of orthodromically activated action potentials and bursts that propagate within the dendritic arbor and to examine the identity of low-amplitude, electrotonically recorded spike events that are present in more than one-half of the intracellular recordings obtained from dendrites in these neurons. Experiments using antidromic activation of parasol cell axons indicated that electrotonically recorded spikes probably are generated in neighboring parasol cells, to which the impaled neurons are electrically coupled. Both paired intracellular recordings and extracellular field potential measurements were used to compare arrival times of antidromic and orthodromic spikes at loci in the vicinity of the trunk and the basal branch compartments of parasol cell dendrites. These methods provided consistent results, indicating that synaptically evoked action potentials are initiated at a site on the trunk, from which point they back-propagate into the basal branches within the hemiellipsoid body, and presumably, also orthodromically to the axon. Data are presented suggesting that bursts also arise at a trunk locus, but one that is different from the initiation point of single spikes evoked by excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs). Morphological specializations between the dendritic trunk and basal branches may facilitate back-propagation of spikes and spike bursts into the basal branches. Address for reprint requests and other correspondence: D. Mellon, Gilmer Hall, Univ. of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903 (E-mail: dm6d{at}virginia.edu ).