The onset of response habituation during the growth of the lateral giant neuron of crayfish

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1. The postembryonic development of the crayfish LG tailflip command neuron's response to mechanosensory input was studied with standard electrophysiological techniques in animals between 1 and 12 cm long. 2. LG neurons are present in each abdominal hemisegment where they receive direct and indirect excitatory input from mechanosensory afferents. In both small and large crayfish, electrical stimulation of an abdominal ganglionic nerve containing those afferents evoked a compound excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) with an early, reliable alpha component and a later, depression-prone beta wave. It is known that the alpha and beta components are produced by inputs from primary mechanosensory afferents and interneurons, respectively. 3. In crayfish < 2 cm long, LG was excited by the alpha component. When superthreshold, the alpha component triggered a single spike; additional excitation provided by the later beta wave presumably was preempted by refractoriness following the alpha spike and by recurrent inhibition of LG excited by the spike. LG was excited reliably by the alpha component in response to repeated superthreshold stimulation. 4. In crayfish between 2 and 3 cm, LG was excited more readily by the beta wave than by the alpha component. LG's beta spike response habituated to repeated stimulation at 1 Hz, and the beta EPSP depressed whereas the alpha component was largely unchanged. The appearance of the cellular substrates of habituation correlates with the reported onset of behavioral habituation of the tailflip response. Higher stimulus levels brought the alpha EPSP to threshold. Repetitive stimulation at these levels reliably evoked LG spikes from the alpha EPSP.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)