Showing 1 - 9 of 9 Items

Date: 2019-05-01

Creator: Gina Fickera

Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community

Date: 2020-01-01

Creator: Emily R Oleisky

Access: Access restricted to the Bowdoin Community

Date: 2020-01-01

Creator: Grace Bukowski-Thall

Access: Open access

Central pattern generators (CPGs) are neural networks that generate the rhythmic outputs that control behaviors such as locomotion, respiration, and chewing. The stomatogastric nervous system (STNS), which contains the CPGs that control foregut movement, and the cardiac ganglion (CG), which is a CPG that controls heartbeat, are two commonly studied systems in decapod crustaceans. Neuromodulators are locally or hormonally released neuropeptides and amines that change the output patterns of CPGs like the STNS and CG to allow behavioral flexibility. We have hypothesized that neuromodulation provides a substrate for the evolution of behavioral flexibility, and as a result, systems exhibiting more behavioral flexibility are modulated to a greater degree. To examine this hypothesis, we evaluated the extent to which the STNS and the CG are modulated in the majoid crab species Chionoecetes opilio, Libinia emarginata, and Pugettia producta. C. opilio and L. emarginata are opportunistic feeders, whereas P. producta has a highly specialized kelp diet. We predicted that opportunistic feeding crabs that chew and process a wide variety of food types would exhibit greater STNS neuromodulatory capacity than those with a specialized diet. The STNS of L. emarginata and C. opilio responded to the seven endogenous neuromodulators oxotremorine, dopamine, CabTrp Ia, CCAP, myosuppressin, proctolin, and RPCH, whereas the STNS of P. producta only responded to proctolin, oxotremorine, myosuppressin, RPCH (25% of the time), variably to dopamine, and not at all to CabTrp and CCAP. Because P. producta, L. emarginata, and C. opilio all belong to the Majoidea superfamily, their primary distinctions are their feeding habits. For this reason, we further predicted that there would be no relationship between diet and modulatory capacity in the cardiac ganglion (CG) of the neurogenic heart. This would suggest that a lack of STNS modulatory capacity in P. producta relative to L. emarginata and C. opilio is specific to evolved foregut function. Whole-heart recordings from P. producta indicated that, unlike the STNS, the CG responds to CabTrp and CCAP. P. producta hearts also responded to oxotremorine and inconsistently to dopamine and proctolin. The CG of C. opilio was modulated by CabTrp, CCAP, dopamine, proctolin, myosuppressin, and oxotremorine, but not RPCH. The CG of L. emarginata responded to CCAP, and inconsistently to CabTrp, dopamine, and proctolin, but not to myosuppressin, RPCH, and surprisingly oxotremorine. Although cardiac responses were not identical between species, opportunistic and specialist feeders responded more similarly to the modulators tested in the heart than in the STNS. Notably, P. producta responded to each modulator in a similar manner to C. opilio and/or L. emarginata. However, L. emarginata’s surprising lack of cardiac response to oxotremorine suggests that phylogenetic closeness may not control for differences in CG and STNS function between species. Nevertheless, sample sizes of all three species were quite small, and individual differences lead to inconsistencies in the data. As a result, sample size must be enlarged to draw firm conclusions.

Date: 2020-01-01

Creator: Audrey J. Muscato

Access: Open access

Central pattern generators (CPGs) produce patterned outputs independent of sensory input. The cardiac neuromuscular system of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) is driven by a CPG called the cardiac ganglion (CG), which is composed of nine neurons, making it a model system of study. Modulation of CPGs allows for functional flexibility. One neuropeptide family that modulates the CG is C-type allatostatin (AST-C I-III). Previous research has shown variation in the responses of the CG across the three isoforms and among individuals. First, we investigated why AST-C I and III elicit responses that are more similar to each other than they are to the responses elicited by AST-C II. We hypothesized that an amino acid difference in the conserved sequence was responsible for the observed variation in responses. We synthesized isoforms of AST-C that replaced the endogenous amino acid and recorded responses to these isoforms. The identity of one particular amino acid in the conserved sequence seems to be responsible for variations in responses in frequency. Next, we focused on variation among individuals in their responses to AST-C I and III. We hypothesized that the mechanism behind this individual variation is differential expression of AST-C receptors and/or their downstream targets. We recorded physiological responses of the cardiac system to AST-C and then sequenced CG RNA from the same lobsters. Differential expression of one of the AST-C receptors and a number of downstream factors is correlated with physiological response. These findings inspire further experimentation investigating molt cycle as the underlying cause.

Date: 2021-01-01

Creator: Audrey Elizabeth Jordan

Access: Open access

Networks of neurons known as central pattern generators (CPGs) generate rhythmic patterns of output to drive behaviors like locomotion. CPGs are relatively fixed networks that produce consistent patterns in the absence of other inputs. The heart contractions of the Homarus americanus are neurogenic and controlled by the CPG known as the cardiac ganglion. Neuromodulators can enable flexibility in CPG motor output, and also on muscle contractions by acting on the neuromuscular junction and the muscle itself. A tissue-specific transcriptome gleaned from the cardiac ganglion and cardiac muscle of the American lobster was used to predict the sites and sources of a variety of crustacean neuromodulators. If corresponding receptors were predicted to be expressed in the cardiac muscle, then it was hypothesized that the neuropeptide had peripheral effects. One peptide for which a cardiac muscle receptor was identified is myosuppressin. Myosuppressin has been shown to have modulatory effects at the cardiac neuromuscular system of the American lobster. In previous research, myosuppressin had modulatory effects on the periphery of cardiac neuromuscular system alone. It remains an open question of whether myosuppressin acts on the cardiac muscle directly, if it is exerting its effects at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ), or both. To test this, I performed physiological experiments on the isolated NMJ. Myosuppressin did not modulate the amplitude of the excitatory junction potentials. Since no modulatory effects were seen at the NMJ, the cardiac muscle was isolated from the cardiac ganglion and then glutamate-evoked contractions were stimulated. I showed that myosuppressin increased glutamate-evoked contraction amplitude. These data suggest myosuppressin exerts its peripheral effects at the cardiac muscle and not the NMJ.

Date: 2024-01-01

Creator: Grant Griesman

Access: Open access

Central pattern generators (CPGs) are neuronal networks that produce rhythmic motor output in the absence of sensory stimuli. Invertebrate CPGs are valuable models of neural circuit dynamics and neuromodulation because they continue to generate fictive activity in vitro. For example, the cardiac ganglion (CG) of the Jonah crab (Cancer borealis) and American lobster (Homarus americanus) contains nine electrochemically coupled neurons that fire bursts of action potentials to trigger a heartbeat. The CG is modulated by neuropeptides, amines, small molecule transmitters, gases, and mechanosensory feedback pathways that enable flexibility and constrain output. One such modulator, the SLY neuropeptide family, was previously shown to be expressed in hormonal release sites and within the CG itself and has unusual processing features. However, its physiological effect was unknown. Here, I performed dose-response experiments in the crab and lobster whole heart and isolated CG to determine the threshold concentration of SLY neuropeptides to which these systems respond. The crab isoform had strong, excitatory effects in the crab whole heart and weakly modulated the crab CG. The lobster isoform weakly modulated the lobster whole heart and CG. Surprisingly, the crab isoform exerted large, variable effects on the lobster system, which suggests that SLY neuropeptides, their receptors, and their signaling pathways may be evolutionarily conserved across these two species. This research contributes to our understanding of how neural circuits can generate flexible output in response to modulation. It may also offer insight into processes influenced by peptidergic neurotransmission in the nervous systems of other animals, including mammals.

Date: 2014-05-01

Creator: Elizabeth A Owens

Access: Open access

The American lobster, Homarus americanus, inhabits a large oceanic range spanning from Labrador, Canada to North Carolina, USA. This geographic range varies in temperature by as much as 25ºC, and daily temperature fluctuations of up to 12ºC may occur at a single location depending on season, water depth, and tides. The cardiac system of the lobster is sensitive to these temperature changes, and has been shown to adjust its functioning over a large temperature range. A previous study showed that various functional parameters respond differently to temperature changes, but a stable cardiac output can be maintained over the range of 2-20ºC. The current study showed that the effects of temperature were exerted primarily through changes in the lobster heart central pattern generator, the cardiac ganglion. Similar patterns of change were seen in both semi-intact hearts and isolated cardiac ganglion preparations in response to increasing temperature. Specifically, with increasing temperature, the burst frequency showed a biphasic pattern in which frequency initially increased, then decreased rapidly at high temperatures. The burst duration, duty cycle, and number of spikes per burst generally decreased with increasing temperature, and spike frequency increased over the entire temperature range. Semi-intact hearts and isolated cardiac ganglia showed similar “crash” patterns, characterized by complete loss of function at high temperatures and complete recovery of function when temperature was returned to baseline. Feedback in the semi-intact heart provided some stabilization of bursting activity, but it did not provide the expected protection from high temperatures. The isolated CG had a significantly higher crash temperature than did the semi-intact system. This discrepancy in crash temperatures may be explained by considering factors at the level of the muscle and neuromuscular junction (NMJ), such as stretch and nitric oxide (NO) feedback and the balance of facilitation and depression at the NMJ. Stimulated preparations showed defacilitation of contraction amplitude at high temperatures despite the maintenance of constant burst parameters of stimulation. Therefore, several factors contributing to the relatively low crash temperature of the intact system may be a shift in the balance of facilitation and depression at the NMJ, a depression in ganglion function due to the release of NO by the muscle, or a combination of the two mechanisms.

Date: 2023-01-01

Creator: Elise Martin

Access: Open access

This project sought to answer the following question: what is the relationship between the extent of neuromodulation in a nervous system, and the behavioral demands on that system? A well-characterized CPG neuronal circuit in decapod crustaceans, the stomatogastric nervous system (STNS), was used as a model circuit to answer this question. The stomatogastric ganglion (STG) in the STNS is responsible for muscular contractions in the stomach that aid in digestion. It has been shown that the neural networks in the STG are subject to neuromodulation. One feature of neuromodulation is that it enables circuit flexibility, which confers upon a system the ability to produce variable outputs in response to specific physiological demands. It was hypothesized that opportunistic feeders require more extensively modulated digestive systems compared to exclusive feeders, because opportunistic feeders require a greater variety of digestive outputs to digest their varied diets. In this study, Chionoecetes opilio and Libinia emarginata, the opportunistic feeders, showed greater neuromodulatory capacity of the STNS than Pugettia producta, the exclusive feeder. The hypothesis that neuromodulatory capacity of the STNS correlates with dietary diversity was supported. The results detailed in this study lend credence to the idea that evolutionary basis for neuromodulatory capacity of a system is related to the behavioral demands on that system.

Date: 2024-01-01

Creator: Josephine P. Tidmore

Access: Open access

Central pattern generator (CPG) networks produce the rhythmic motor patterns that underlie critical behaviors such as breathing, walking, and heartbeat. The fidelity of these neural circuits in response to fluctuations in environmental conditions is essential for organismal survival. The specific ion channel profile of a neuron dictates its electrophysiological phenotype and is under homeostatic control, as channel proteins are constantly turning over in the membrane in response to internal and external stimuli. Neuronal function depends on ion channels and biophysical processes that are sensitive to external variables such as temperature, pH, and salinity. Nonetheless, the nervous system of the American lobster (Homarus americanus) is robust to global perturbations in these variables. The cardiac ganglion (CG), the CPG that controls the rhythmic activation of the heart in the lobster, has been shown to maintain function across a relatively wide, ecologically-relevant range of saline concentrations in the short-term. This study investigates whether individual neurons of the CG sense and compensate for long-term changes in extracellular ion concentration by controlling their ion channel mRNA abundances. To do this, I bathed the isolated CG in either 0.75x, 1.5x, or 1x (physiological) saline concentrations for 24 h. I then dissected out individual CG motor neurons, the pacemaker neurons, and sections of axonal projections and used single-cell RT-qPCR to measure relative mRNA abundances of several species of ion channels in these cells. I found that the CG maintained stable output with 24 h exposure to altered saline concentrations (0.75x and 1.5x), and that this stability may indeed be enabled by changes in mRNA abundances and correlated channel relationships.