Physiologic and Epileptic Oscillations in a Small Invertebrate Network

Abstract

When compared to vertebrate nervous systems, invertebrate ganglia are studied easily because of several technical advantages. The relative simplicity of these ganglia enabled e.g. the study of the ionic bases of bioelectrical activity of neurons and the study of mechanisms underlying learning and memory. Furthermore, there are several examples of oscillatory events in invertebrate nervous systems which are well understood on the single neuron level (cf. Kandel, 1976; Fentress, 1976). Thus, the buccal ganglia of snails which are part of the snail central nervous system contain a neuronal generator of the motor program for food intake i.e. for biting and swallowing. The generator is spontaneously active even when the ganglia are isolated from the animal. The physiologic oscillatory activity of this generator has been studied in several snail species (cf. Siegler, 1977; Bulloch and Dorsett, 1979; Benjamin and Elliott, 1989).