Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ , UK.
Department of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool Campus, Lincoln, LN6 7TS, UK.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2022 Nov;208(5-6):571-589. doi: 10.1007/s00359-022-01577-8. Epub 2022 Oct 8.
Crickets receive auditory information from their environment via ears located on the front legs. Ascending interneurons forward auditory activity to the brain, which houses a pattern recognition network for phonotaxis to conspecific calling songs and which controls negative phonotaxis to high-frequency sound pulses. Descending brain neurons, however, which are clearly involved in controlling these behaviors, have not yet been identified. We describe a descending auditory-responsive brain neuron with an arborization pattern that coincides with the ring-like auditory neuropil in the brain formed by the axonal arborizations of ascending and local interneurons, indicating its close link to auditory processing. Spiking activity of this interneuron occurs with a short latency to calling song patterns and the neuron copies the sound pulse pattern. The neuron preferentially responds to short sound pulses, but its activity appears to be independent of the calling song pattern recognition process. It also receives a weaker synaptic input in response to high-frequency pulses, which may contribute to its short latency spiking responses. This interneuron could be a crucial part in the auditory-to-motor transformation of the nervous system and contribute to the motor control of cricket auditory behavior.
蟋蟀通过位于前腿上的耳朵接收来自环境的听觉信息。上行中间神经元将前听觉活动传递到大脑，大脑内有一个用于声趋性的模式识别网络，用于同类求爱鸣叫的声趋性，以及控制对高频声脉冲的负声趋性。然而，尚未确定明确参与控制这些行为的下行脑神经元。我们描述了一种下行听觉反应性脑神经元，其分支模式与由上行和局部中间神经元的轴突分支形成的大脑中环状听觉神经网一致，表明其与听觉处理密切相关。该中间神经元的尖峰活动与求爱鸣叫声模式具有短潜伏期，并且该神经元复制声音脉冲模式。该神经元优先响应短声音脉冲，但它的活动似乎与求爱鸣叫声模式识别过程无关。它还对高频脉冲产生较弱的突触输入，这可能有助于其短潜伏期的尖峰反应。该中间神经元可能是神经系统中听觉到运动转换的关键部分，并有助于蟋蟀听觉行为的运动控制。
