Dembrow N C, Jing J, Proekt A, Romero A, Vilim F S, Cropper E C, Weiss K R
Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York 10029, USA.
J Neurophysiol. 2003 Oct;90(4):2190-204. doi: 10.1152/jn.00173.2003. Epub 2003 Jun 11.
Despite considerable progress in characterizing the feeding central pattern generator (CPG) in Aplysia, the full complement of neurons that generate feeding motor programs has not yet been identified. The distribution of neuropeptide-containing neurons in the buccal and cerebral ganglia can be used as a tool to identify additional elements of the feeding circuitry by providing distinctions between otherwise morphologically indistinct neurons. For example, our recent study revealed a unique and potentially interesting unpaired PRQFVamide (PRQFVa)-containing neuron in the buccal ganglion. In this study, we describe the morphological and electrophysiological characterization of this novel neuron, which we designate as B50. We found that activation of B50 is capable of producing organized rhythmic output of the feeding CPG. The motor programs elicited by B50 exhibit some similarities as well as differences to motor programs elicited by the command-like cerebral-to-buccal interneuron CBI-2. In addition to activating the feeding CPG, B50 may act as a program modulator.
尽管在刻画海兔摄食中枢模式发生器（CPG）方面取得了相当大的进展，但尚未确定产生摄食运动程序的全部神经元。通过区分形态上难以区分的神经元，含神经肽神经元在口侧神经节和脑神经节中的分布可作为一种工具，用于识别摄食神经回路的其他组成部分。例如，我们最近的研究在口侧神经节中发现了一个独特且可能有趣的含PRQFVamide（PRQFVa）的不成对神经元。在本研究中，我们描述了这个新神经元（我们将其命名为B50）的形态学和电生理学特征。我们发现激活B50能够产生摄食CPG有组织的节律性输出。B50引发的运动程序与类似指令的脑-口侧中间神经元CBI-2引发的运动程序既有一些相似之处，也有不同之处。除了激活摄食CPG外，B50可能还充当程序调制器。
