Activity of Excitor and Inhibitor Claw Motor Neurones During Habituation and Dishabituation of the Crayfish Defence Response

Abstract

ABSTRACT The activity of the opener excitor and inhibitor motor neurones was recorded during habituation and dishabituation of the defensive claw opening response in partially restrained crayfish (Astacus sp.). Claw opening evoked by brief tactile stimulation of the thorax undergoes habituation if the stimulation is repeated at 30 s or 1 min intervals. This habituation is accompanied by a progressive decrease in evoked excitor activity, while the activity of the inhibitor remains unchanged. The habituated claw opening response can be dishabituated by tactile stimulation of the claw or head, or by visual stimulation. Dishabituation is accompanied by both an increase in evoked excitor activity and a decrease in evoked inhibitor activity. Dishabituation is also accompanied by potentiation of claw opening: that is, the same number of excitor and inhibitor spikes produce greater claw opening following dishabituating stimulation. The potentiation of claw opening following dishabituation is due in part to post-tetanic potentiation (PTP) at the excitor neuromuscular junction. PTP was demonstrated with physiological parameters of stimulation in isolated claw preparations, and is of sufficient magnitude and duration to account for the observed potentiation. These results contradict the conclusion from an earlier study (see Schone, 1961) that habituation of the claw opening response is due to an increase in inhibitor activity. They also provide new evidence for a role in dishabituation of both disinhibition and PTP.