Neurons in cortical sensory areas respond selectively to sensory stimuli, and the preferred stimulus typically varies among neurons so as to continuously span the sensory space. However, some neurons reflect sensory features that are learned or task dependent. For example, neurons in the lateral intraparietal area (LIP) reflect learned associations between visual stimuli. One might expect that ...

Relatively little is still known about the sense of taste, or contact chemoreception, compared with other sensory modalities, despite its importance to many aspects of animal behaviour. The central projections of the sensory neurons from bimodal contact chemoreceptors (basiconic sensilla) were compared with those from mechanosensory tactile hairs located on similar regions of the middle leg of ...

Studying the development and mechanisms of sensory perception is challenging in organisms with complex neuronal networks. The worm Caenorhabditis elegans possesses a simple neuronal network of 302 neurons that includes 60 ciliated sensory neurons (CSNs) for detecting external sensory input. C. elegans is thus an excellent model in which to study sensory neuron development, function, and behavio...

Ganglion terminale (GT) in its essence displays gathering of pseudounipolar neurons, situated in impressio ganglion trigeminale of the pyramid. Peripheral tentacles of pseudounipolar cells take place in formation of first, second and third reception parts of the third branch of V cerebral nerve and central ones form receptive root entering into middle cerebellar peduncle.

The capacity of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii to regenerate its walking legs provides a system for studying the mechanisms of neural regeneration and repair. A set number of excitatory and inhibitory motor neurons innervate all the limb musculature throughout the normal development and regeneration of a limb. The cell bodies of the motor neurons reside within the segmental ganglion and, upon...

This first comprehensive study of the peripheral olfactory organ from a representative of the large and economically important order of teleost fishes, the Perciformes, shows a compact structure with olfactory sensory neurons distributed widely throughout the olfactory chamber. The spatial organization of the nasal cavity in the bottom-dwelling round goby (Gobiidae, Neogobius melanostomus) was ...

Glutamate is the most common neurotransmitter in both the central and the peripheral nervous system. Glutamate is present in all types of neurons in sensory ganglia, and is released not only from their peripheral and central axon terminals but also from their cell bodies. Consistently, these neurons express ionotropic and metabotropic receptors, as well as other molecules involved in the synthe...

Prostaglandins sensitize sensory neurons to activation by mechanical, thermal and chemical stimuli. This sensitization also results in an increase in the stimulus-evoked release of the neuroactive peptides, substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide from sensory neurons. The cellular transduction cascade underlying the prostaglandin-induced augmentation of peptide release is not known. The...

Thoracic dorsal root ganglia in bullfrogs contain sensory neurons that innervate the skin of the trunk and have synaptic connections in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. The ganglion that innervates the forelimb contains, in addition to cutaneous afferents, many muscle afferents that project more ventrally in the spinal cord and make monosynaptic connections with motoneurons. In the present s...

To determine the chemotransduction characteristics of ventricular sensory neurites associated with nodose ganglion afferent neurons, various chemicals were applied individually to epicardial sensory neurites associated with individual afferent neurons in anesthetized guinea pigs. The following ion channel-modifying agents were tested: barium chloride, cadmium chloride, calcium chloride, the che...