IAC-USNC Methods in Neuroscience- Crayfish Neuromuscular Junction- MAIN PAGE


All the photos here were taken at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Massachusetts during the summer 2001 Neurobiology course. Many thanks to the course instructors and students who made these pages possible.
CRAYFISH TEAM Bill Adolfsen, neurobiology course student JEN-WEI LIN, PhD, Associate Professor of Biology at Boston University, neurobiology course instructor Devkanya Datta, neurobiology course student

Dissection 1 Dissection 2 Recording Crayfish Home

OVERVIEW

The crayfish neuromuscular has been a major model animal for neurobiologists. Recordings from the crayfish lateral giant axon provided some of the first conclusive evidence for the presence of electric transmission. The neuromuscular junction provided one of the first quantitative analyses of presynaptic inhibition. Also, the crayfish neuromuscular junction was used to test the binomial model for transmitter release and thus generalize the Poisson model for probabilistic quantal release initially proposed by Katz and colleagues. Finally, it was also used as one of the first preparations where quantitative presynaptic calcium imaging was implemented, thus providing important insights into the mechanisms underlying synaptic plasticity.

Recordings are made using two microelectrode voltage clamp, and can also be done in the current clamp mode. Sharp electrodes are filled with 3M KCl and have resistances of 10-20 MOhms.