Regenerating afferents establish synapses with a target neuron that lacks its cell body.

When the axons of crayfish tail-fan mechanoreceptor neurons are severed, the axons regenerate into the central nervous system and after 2 to 6 weeks reestablish functional contacts with their standard interneuronal target cells. Removal of the cell body and hence the genes of the largest of these interneurons does not interfere with the successful reestablishment of synapses between it and its afferents.