Crayfish brain interneurons that converge with serotonin giant cells in accessory lobe glomeruli.

Freshwater crayfish have well-developed olfactory systems with an array of receptors that project exclusively to areas in the brain that are functionally specialized for the processing of odors. The accessory lobes are large bilateral areas of neuropil that are anatomically associated with the olfactory lobes. The accessory lobes receive no primary afferents and do not contain the endings of motor efferents; thus, their role in olfaction is still obscure. Intracellular dye filling of interneurons in the deutocerebral commissure in the crayfish brain has shown that they end bilaterally in glomeruli in the accessory lobes, have cell somata in a dorsal cluster medial to the olfactory lobes, and have unilateral projections to the deutocerebral commissure neuropil. Each deutocerebral commissure interneuron has only 6 to 15 output glomeruli in each accessory lobe and does not share glomeruli with other deutocerebral commissure interneurons. The deutocerebral commissure interneurons converge with the dorsal giant serotonin neurons in the accessory lobe glomeruli. Deutocerebral commissure interneurons can be separated into classes according to their projections to the protocerebrum, central body, and deutocerebrum. Physiological responses of the deutocerebral commissure interneurons following photic stimulation of the eyes and electrical stimulation of the second antennae lead to the conclusion that the deutocerebral commissure represents an input to the accessory lobes from the protocerebral neuropils and that visual and tactile inputs are included in the processing performed in the accessory lobes.