| Summary: | Crustacean mechanosensory neurons, isolated by enzymatic digestion from abdominal muscle receptor organs of Homarus americanus and Procambarus clarkii, maintain characteristic morphological and electrophysiological phenotypes in culture. New outgrowth occurs at both the axonal and dendritic poles. The patterns of outgrowth are distinct and in keeping with the sensory function. The cut axonal end gives rise to few elongated processes which rarely branch. In contrast, the new growth at the dendritic pole consists of multiple, short ($<$10 um) processes which resemble normal sensory termini. Cultured tonic and phasic sensory neurons respond to depolarizing current injections with characteristic firing patterns. Single channel patch clamp studies have identified at least four different ion channels. In Homarus, three channel types are voltage but not stretch sensitive. One channel type identified in Procambarus, displays both voltage and stretch sensitivity. These cultured mechanosensory neurons have the potential to be useful models for the study of the mechanisms of mechanotransduction.
|
|---|
