The Role of the Central Complex in Antenna Guided Orientation Behavior in Tethered Walking Cockroaches
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1
Case Western Reserve University, Biology, United States
An animal moving through complex terrain must consider sensory cues around it and alter its movements accordingly. In the arthropod brain, the central complex (CC) receives highly preprocessed sensory information and sends outputs to premotor regions, suggesting that it may play a role in the central control of oriented locomotion. Extracellular recordings in restrained animals showed that CC neurons respond to mechanical and visual stimuli, and intracellular recordings identified some of these neurons. In previous studies, genetic or physiological lesions in the CC led to locomotion deficits. However, it is unclear how the CC processes sensory information and directs locomotion in the context of behavior. We performed tetrode recordings within the CC in cockroaches walking on an air-suspended ball. When a rod was placed near the cockroach’s head, the cockroach touched the rod repeatedly with one or both antennae before locomotion was initiated. The CC was involved in this process. Some CC units responded to self-generated antennal contact with the object, but at lower levels compared to externally imposed antennal stimulation. Neural activity of some other CC units responded to locomotion. We found that some CC units showed discrete firing fields corresponding to specific locomotion states, such as right or left turning irrespective of forward walking speed, forward walking irrespective of turning speed, and forward walking to right or left. We also examined the relationship between firing rate and locomotion changes within bouts of locomotion. We found that while neural activity of some units was correlated with forward walking and/or turning speed with some delay, changes in firing rate of other units preceded locomotion changes. Thus, neurons whose activity either predicts or follows locomotion changes are both present in the CC. Furthermore, some of these locomotion predictive units showed asymmetrical activity in anticipation of a turn. Neural activity of these units was correlated with turning speed of one direction but not the other. We also found an identifiable pattern of locomotion predictive units within the fan-shaped body (FB). From the right to the left FB, the prediction changes from right to left turning, and from the lateral to the middle FB, the prediction changes from turning to forward walking. Moreover, electrical stimulation of the CC elicited or modified locomotion and the direction of some evoked locomotion can be predicted by the response property of locomotion predictive units near the stimulation site. Therefore, our results suggest that tactile information from active antennal sensing is processed in the CC and this information is then used to generate asymmetrical CC activity that directs orientation behavior. We are currently developing methods to record neural activity in cockroaches implanted with tetrode wires during free exploration.
Acknowledgements
Supported by AFOSR Grant FA9550-10-1-0054 to RER
Keywords:
Active Antennal sensing,
Ball Walking,
motor control,
Multi-unit Recording,
Oriented Locomotion
Conference:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation (see alternatives below as well)
Topic:
Sensorimotor Integration
Citation:
Guo
P,
Pollack
A and
Ritzmann
R
(2012). The Role of the Central Complex in Antenna Guided Orientation Behavior in Tethered Walking Cockroaches.
Conference Abstract:
Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00218
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Received:
30 Apr 2012;
Published Online:
07 Jul 2012.
*
Correspondence:
Mr. Peiyuan Guo, Case Western Reserve University, Biology, Cleveland, OH, 44106, United States, guopy1030@gmail.com