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Electromyographic Characterization of Walking Behavior Initiated Spontaneously in Crayfish

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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:http://hdl.handle.net/2115/39624

Title: Electromyographic Characterization of Walking Behavior Initiated Spontaneously in Crayfish
Authors: Chikamoto, Kyoko Browse this author
Kagaya, Katsushi Browse this author
Takahata, Masakazu Browse this author →KAKEN DB
Keywords: crayfish
electromyogram
spontaneous behavior
reflexive behavior
locomotion
Issue Date: Aug-2008
Publisher: Zoological Society of Japan
Journal Title: Zoological Science
Volume: 25
Issue: 8
Start Page: 783
End Page: 792
Publisher DOI: 10.2108/zsj.25.783
PMID: 18795811
Abstract: Crayfish initiate walking behavior not only reflexively in response to external stimuli but also spontaneously in the absence of any specific stimulus. In order to analyze the initiation mechanism underlying these different types of walking, we made simultaneous electromyographic (EMG) recordings from thoracic legs when animals initiated walking, either reflexively or spontaneously, and video recorded their movements synchronously with the EMG recording. Two different stimuli, mechanical and chemical, were used to reflexively induce walking. A non-rhythmic, sustained activation of leg muscles was found to precede the behavioral initiation of either type of walking. The duration of this non-rhythmic muscle activation was significantly longer in the spontaneously initiated walking than in the mechanical stimulus-evoked walking, although no difference was observed between the spontaneous and chemical stimulus-evoked walking. EMG recordings from all eight legs revealed that their non-rhythmic muscle activation occurred almost simultaneously prior to initiation of rhythmical stepping movements. When an animal was suspended without a leg substratum, the timing of muscle activation was more variable among the legs than in the free condition on the substratum. When the circumesophageal commissures were both severed to eliminate signals descending from the brain to the thoracic ganglia, the bilaterally coordinated rhythmic burst activity was not observed in the walking legs. These findings suggest that the spontaneous initiation of walking behavior requires sensory feedback signals from leg proprioceptors, subserved by a different descending activation mechanism from that for stimulus-driven initiation of walking.
Rights: (c) Zoological Society of Japan / 本文献の公開は著者の意思に基づくものである
Relation: http://www.bioone.org/perlserv/?request=get-archive&issn=0289-0003
Type: article
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2115/39624
Appears in Collections:理学院・理学研究院 (Graduate School of Science / Faculty of Science) > 雑誌発表論文等 (Peer-reviewed Journal Articles, etc)

Submitter: 加賀谷 勝史

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