When complex neuronal structures may not matter

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Abstract

Much work has explored animal-to-animal variability and compensation in ion channel expression. Yet, little is known regarding the physiological consequences of morphological variability. We quantify animal-to-animal variability in cable lengths (CV = 0.4) and branching patterns in the Gastric Mill (GM) neuron, an identified neuron type with highly-conserved physiological properties in the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of Cancer borealis. We examined passive GM electrotonic structure by measuring the amplitudes and apparent reversal potentials (E_revs) of inhibitory responses evoked with focal glutamate photo-uncaging in the presence of TTX. Apparent E_revs were relatively invariant across sites (mean CV + SD =0.04 + 0.01; 7-20 sites in each of 10 neurons), which ranged between 100-800 µm from the somatic recording site. Thus, GM neurons are remarkably electrotonically compact (estimated λ > 1.5 mm). Electrotonically compact structures, in consort with graded transmission, provide an elegant solution to observed morphological variability in the STG.

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Adriane G Otopalik

Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, United States

For correspondence
aotopali@brandeis.edu

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-3224-6502
Alexander C Sutton

Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, United States

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Matthew Ryan Banghart

Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, United States

Competing interests
No competing interests declared.
Eve Marder

Volen Center, Brandeis University, Waltham, United States

For correspondence
marder@brandeis.edu

Competing interests
Eve Marder, Senior editor, eLife.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-9632-5448

Funding

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (F31NS092126)

Adriane G Otopalik

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R37NS017813)

Eve Marder

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

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This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.