A Chemical Synapse Between Two Motion Detecting Neurones in the Locust Brain

The LGMD is the major source of visual input from the compound eye to the ipsilateral DCMD. Inactivating the LGMD or hyperpolarizing it, so it no longer spikes, abolishes the response of the DCMD to the visual stimulus. Synaptic transmission between the LGMD and DCMD neurones is chemical. A spike in the LGMD terminals induces a postsynaptic potential in the DCMD dendrites, with a transmission delay of 1 ms. There is a conductance increase in the DCMD during an LGMD-mediated PSP. The conductance increase occurs at membrane potentials when the current/voltage relationship of the DCMD membrane is linear, and at several different membrane potentials. The LGMD-mediated PSP within the dendritic region of the DCMD has a rise time of 1.3 ms, a half-time for decay of 2.2 ms and a total duration of 8.3 ms. In the cell body it has a rise time of 3.3 ms, a half-time for decay of 8 ms and a total duration of 21.3 ms. The amplitude of the LGMD-mediated PSP depends on the membrane potential of the DCMD. The PSP amplitude is increased by membrane hyperpolarization and decreased by membrane depolarizations. At a membrane potential 30 mV more positive than resting potential the extrapolated size of the PSP is zero. The synaptic efficiency of the LGMD-DCMD connection is usually 1.2. (formula; see text) There is a threshold of 13 mV in the LGMD before synaptic transmission occurs. Currents less than 13 mV are not transmitted in either direction across the synapse although they do reach the synaptic region if they are injected at the extremities of the neurones within the brain. Length constants for the LGMD are 0.36 mm between points c and d in the protocerebrum and 0.63 mm between point b in the optic lobe and point d in the protocerebrum. The length constant measured between the dendrite region of the DCMD and its cell body is 1.34 mm. DCMD spikes and PSPs follow spikes in the LGMD at a constant latency at frequencies up to 400 Hz. Usually a spike in the LGMD induces a spike in the DCMD.