Synchronous activity of flight neurons in the mesothoracic ganglion of the locust

Abstract

1. Coordinated movements of the wings during flight in the locust result from coordinated activity of flight neurons in the thoracic ganglia. Many flight interneurons and motoneurons fire synchronous bursts of action potentials during the expression of the flight motor pattern. The mechanisms which underlie this synchronous firing were investigated in a deafferented preparation of Locusta migratoria. 2. Simultaneous intracellular recordings were taken from flight neurons in the mesothoracic ganglion using glass microelectrodes filled with fluorescent dye. 3. Three levels of synchronous activity between synergistic motoneurons and between the right and left partners of bilaterally symmetrical pairs of interneurons were observed: bursting which was loosely in phase but which showed little correlation between the temporal parameters of individual bursts in the two neurons; bursting which showed synchrony of the beginning and end of bursts; and bursts which showed highly synchronous spike-for-spike activity. 4. Direct interactions between the neurons had little or no part to play in maintaining any of the levels of synchrony, even in instances of very close synchrony (spikes in different neurons occurring within 1 ms of each other). Highly synchronous firing was a consequence of common synaptic input impinging on neurons with similar morphological and physiological properties.