Ascending auditory interneurons in the cricket Teleogryllus commodus (Walker): comparative physiology and direct connections with afferents

Abstract

Ascending auditory interneurons of the cricket, Teleogryllus commodus (Walker), were investigated using simultaneous intracellular and extracellular recording in order to identify units which had previously been characterized only by extracellular recording. The morphology and physiology of the large adapting unit (LAU: Fig. 1) and of the small tonic unit (STU: Fig. 2) of Teleogryllus correspond well to those of the ascending neuron 2 (AN2) and the ascending neuron 1 (AN1) of Gryllus (Figs. 1, 2), respectively. A summary of the ascending auditory interneurons described by various authors in 5 species of crickets is presented in order to establish common identities. Physiological evidence for direct connections between auditory afferents and the ascending auditory interneurons AN1 (STU) and AN2 (LAU) is presented. Simultaneous intracellular recordings from receptors and interneurons in response to sound as well as the activity of auditory interneurons upon electrical stimulation of the tympanal nerve reveal short and constant latencies of receptor-evoked synaptic activity in AN1 (STU) and AN2 (LAU).