Characterization of octopaminergic descending unpaired median neurons in the suboesophageal ganglion in Manduca sexta

Erdmann Jessika

doi:10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00081

Abstract

Characterization of octopaminergic descending unpaired median neurons in the suboesophageal ganglion in Manduca sexta

Highlights

INTRODUCTIONNeuromodulation enables the flexibility of an animal’s behavior to adapt to internal and external environmental changes
The neuron recorded in this experiment is presumably a middle descending ventral unpaired median (desVUM) neuron. These results suggest that desVUM neurons of the suboesophageal ganglion (SOG) are centrally coupled to the CPG producing fictive crawling in larvae
This study offers for the first time a detailed description of the morphology and sensory input of the three desVUM neurons of the larval tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta

Summary

Introduction

INTRODUCTIONNeuromodulation enables the flexibility of an animal’s behavior to adapt to internal and external environmental changes. While neurotransmitters act fast and directly on a postsynaptic neuron and neurohormones, on the other hand, are released into the haemolymph and affect distant peripheral targets, biogenic amines as neuromodulators cause slow but long lasting effects on a group of neurons by its local release in the central nervous system or periphery. The latter induce their effects by binding to G-protein coupled receptors which are coupled, depending on the receptor type, to different second messenger pathways, including e.g. inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), adenosine 3 ́,5 ́-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP), calcium and diacylglycerol (DAG). Several neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders are linked with an impairment of biogenic amine neurotransmission, such as that of the catecholamines dopamine and noradrenline (Rubin et al, 1985; Davidson et al, 1987; Oades, 1987; Dailly et al, 2004)

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Conclusion