Facilitation at neuromuscular junctions: contribution to habituation and dishabituation of the Aplysia gill withdrawal reflex

Abstract

The gill withdrawal reflex of Aplysia has been used as a model for studying the neuronal mechanisms of habituation, a behavioral plasticity. We have assessed the contribution of neuromuscular facilitation, an elementary synaptic plasticity, during habituation of the reflex by recording gill muscle potentials, which we show are caused by excitatory junctional potentials. These potentials show systematic frequency-dependent changes in amplitude. The gill withdrawal evoked by central motor neuron firing during each habituation trial is determined by facilitation of the excitatory junctional potentials during the trial and the facilitated state of the initial excitatory junctional potential in a trial, determined by neuron activity prior to the trial. The neuromuscular junctions, therefore, act like a frequency-dependent amplifier of central motor activity. They are fully responsive to the dynamic changes of motor neuron firing that occurs during habituation and especially after dishabituation.