Abstract
The integration of stimuli of different modalities is fundamental to information processing within the nervous system. A descending interneuron in the cricket brain, with prominent dendrites in the deutocerebrum, receives input from three sensory modalities: touch of the antennal flagellum, strain of the antennal base, and visual stimulation. Using calcium imaging, we demonstrate that each modality drives a Ca2+ increase in a different dendritic region. Moreover, touch of the flagellum is represented in a topographic map along the neuron’s dendrites. Using intracellular recording, we investigated the effects of Ca2+ on spike shape through the application of the Ca2+ channel antagonist Cd2+ and identified probable Ca2+-dependent K+ currents.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Different dendritic regions of the cricket brain neuron DBNi1-2 showed localized Ca2+ increases when three modalities of stimulation (touch of the flagellum, strain at antennal base, and visual input) were given. Touch stimulation induces localized Ca2+ increases according to a topographic map of the antenna. Ca2+ appears to activate K+ currents in DBNi1-2.
Highlights
Multimodal processing is essential to adjust the output of the nervous system given a range of sensory inputs
We have investigated whether different dendritic regions of DBNi1-2 show a Ca2ϩ increase in response to touch and strain of the antenna and to visual stimulation
We have investigated how the dendritic structure of a cricket antennal neuron, DBNi1-2, relates to the processing of three modalities of sensory input: touch, strain, and visual stimulation
Summary
Multimodal processing is essential to adjust the output of the nervous system given a range of sensory inputs. We investigated how the location of its synaptic inputs, and morphology of its dendrites, contributes to multimodal processing. The overlap between DBNi1-2 dendrites and projections of neurons carrying sensory information differs for each modality. Trichoid sensilla (Pflüger 1980; Pumphrey 1936), are located along the flagellum (FudalewiczNiemczyk and Rosciszewska 1973; Staudacher et al 2005; Watanabe et al 2012). Their axonal terminals overlap with large “fingerlike” dendrites of DBNi1-2
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