Experimental Neurology By Prof Paul Glees Pp xii + 532 (Oxford: Clarendon Press; London: Oxford University Press, 1961) 75s net

The Nervous System

In this article, we introduce this special issue by establishing a conceptual foundation for the distinction between approach and avoidance motivation. We do so primarily by explicating several reasons why the approach–avoidance distinction should be viewed as fundamental and basic to the study of human behavior. In addition, we compare and contrast the “approach–avoidance” designation with other designations that have been used in the motivational literature to cover the same or similar conceptual ground. Finally, we conclude by briefly overviewing the other contributions to this special issue, specifically highlighting how they make use of the approach–avoidance distinction.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/info/23363527

Approach and avoidance motivation.

Stimulus-evoked oscillatory synchronization of neural assemblies has been described in the olfactory and visual systems of several vertebrates and invertebrates In locusts, information about odour identity is contained in the timing of action potentials in an oscillatory population response, suggesting that oscillations may reflect a common reference for messages encoded in time Although the stimulus-evoked oscillatory phenomenon is reliable, its roles in sensation, perception, memory formation and pattern recognition remain to be demonstrated--a task requiring a behavioural paradigm Using honeybees, we now demonstrate that odour encoding involves, as it does in locusts, the oscillatory synchronization of assemblies of projection neurons and that this synchronization is also selectively abolished by picrotoxin, an antagonist of the GABA(A) (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptor By using a behavioural learning paradigm, we show that picrotoxin-induced desynchronization impairs the discrimination of molecularly similar odorants, but not that of dissimilar odorants It appears, therefore, that oscillatory synchronization of neuronal assemblies is functionally relevant, and essential for fine sensory discrimination This suggests that oscillatory synchronization and the kind of temporal encoding it affords provide an additional dimension by which the brain could segment spatially overlapping stimulus representations

Impaired Odour Discrimination on Desynchronization of Odour-Encoding Neural Assemblies

In the insect olfactory system, oscillatory synchronization is functionally relevant and reflects the coherent activation of dynamic neural assemblies. We examined the role of such oscillatory synchronization in information transfer between networks in this system. The antennal lobe is the obligatory relay for olfactory afferent signals and generates oscillatory output. The mushroom body is responsible for formation and retrieval of olfactory and other memories. The format of odor representations differs significantly across these structures. Whereas representations are dense, dynamic, and seemingly redundant in the antennal lobe, they are sparse and carried by more selective neurons in the mushroom body. This transformation relies on a combination of oscillatory dynamics and intrinsic and circuit properties that act together to selectively filter and synthesize the output from the antennal lobe. These results provide direct support for the functional relevance of correlation codes and shed some light on the role of oscillatory synchronization in sensory networks.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/297/5580/359.full.pdf

Oscillations and Sparsening of Odor Representations in the Mushroom Body

The understanding of the physiology of learning is dominated by two basically different hypotheses. The deterministic view, following Hebb’s (1949) concept of the memory engram, presupposes a memory groove which is built during memory formation by the adaptive change of a relatively small number of reacting sites or switch points. These so-called ’switchpoint theories’ or ‘place theories’ assume that memory involves a discrete set of cells reserved for the special function of information storage (Young 1964; Eccles 1964; Ungar 1970). The non-deterministic or statistical theory is based on Lashley’s (1950) findings which suggest that all, or nearly all, stored information is distributed throughout the whole association cortex rather than by distinct association paths or centres. The individual neuronal switch points may then be involved in the storage of many different memory traces (John 1967, 1972). The two views are similar in that they take the adaptivity of single synapses between neurones as the basic modifiable component of the nervous system (Eccles and McIntyre 1953; Eccles 1964; Ungar 1970; John 1972). They differ, however, in their conception of the gross structure of the memory system. The crucial problem, then, is to locate the stored information. The spatio-temporal pattern of activity during memory formation produces a localised change in the excitability of specific neurones. It should be possible to find such neurones using the same techniques as have been employed for the location of units in the sensory integration centres.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/15/3/1617.full.pdf

Learning and memory in the honeybee

Extension of the proboscis was conditioned in restrained honeybees with odor as the conditioned stimulus (CS) and sucrose solution--delivered to the antenna (to elicit extension of the proboscis) and then to the proboscis itself--as the unconditioned stimulus (US). In a first series of experiments, acquisition was found to be very rapid, both in massed and in spaced trials; its associative basis was established by differential conditioning and by an explicitly unpaired control procedure (which produced marked resistance to acquisition in subsequent paired training); and both extinction and spontaneous recovery in massed trials were demonstrated. In a series of experiments on the nature of the US, eliminating the proboscis component was found to lower the asymptotic level of performance, whereas eliminating the antennal component was without effect; reducing the concentration of sucrose from 20% to 7% slowed acquisition but did not lower the asymptotic level of performance; and second-order conditioning was demonstrated. In a series of experiments on the role of the US, an omission contingency designed to eliminate adventitious response-reinforcer contiguity was found to have no adverse effect on acquisition. In a series of experiments designed to analyze the resistance to acquisition found after explicitly unpaired training in the first experiments, no significant effect was found of prior exposure either to the CS alone or to the US alone, although the unpaired procedure again produced substantial resistance that was shown to be due to inhibition rather than to inattention; extinction after paired training was found to be facilitated by unpaired presentations of the US. The relation between these results for honeybees and those of analogous experiments with vertebrates is considered.

Classical conditioning of proboscis extension in honeybees (Apis mellifera).

The distribution of GABA-like immunoreactivity in the brain of the honeybee was investigated with antisera generated against GABA protein conjugates. The binding of the antisera in paraffin serial sections was studied with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. GABA-like immunoreactive fibers appeared in all main neuropile areas. The staining of the optic lobes showed pronounced stratification. The receptor cells of compound eyes, ocelli, and antennae were not labelled. Several prominent fiber tracts showed GABA-like immunoreactivity, whereas other tracts were devoid of staining. There are no major immunoreactive commissures linking the two brain hemispheres with the exception of small commissures that bridge short distances between the β-lobes and the antennal lobes. Several fibers in the cervical connective were also labelled; some of those may descend from the suboesophageal ganglion to the thoracic ganglia. The dense reactivity seen in the optic and antennal neuropiles implies that GABA is more important in mediating local rather than more distant neural interactions.

Distribution of GABA-like immunoreactivity in the brain of the honeybee.

Glutamate is considered to be the most likely transmitter candidate at excitatory synapses onto skeletal muscles of insects. We investigated the distribution of glutamate-like immunoreactivity (Glu-LI) in identified motor neurons of glutaraldehyde-fixed metathoracic ganglia of the locust in paraffin serial sections. The presumably glutamatergic fast and slow extensor tibiae motor neurons show Glu-LI, whereas other cells, including the GABAergic common inhibitory motor neurons and the cluster of octopaminergic dorsal unpaired median cells, show rather low levels of staining. Immunoreactivity of the fast extensor tibiae motor neuron is located in soma, neurites, axon, and the terminal arborizations. A double-labeling experiment on sections of the locust metathoracic ganglion showed that antisera against glutamate and GABA discriminate between the presumably glutamatergic and GABAergic motor neurons and that GABA-LI-positive neurons are low in Glu-LI. The results suggest that Glu-LI can be used as a marker for detecting potential glutamatergic neurons in insects under the present conditions. Application of the glutamate antiserum to sections of the honeybee brain revealed Glu-LI in motor neurons but also in certain interneurons. The most prominent populations of Glu-LI-positive cells were the monopolar cells and large ocellar interneurons, which are first-order interneurons of the visual and ocellar system. Several groups of descending interneurons also showed Glu-LI. The distributions of Glu-LI and GABA-LI are complementary in locust and bee ganglia. The high level of Glu-LI in certain interneuronal populations, as well as in identified glutamatergic motor neurons, suggests that insect central nervous systems may contain glutamatergic neuronal pathways.

https://www.jneurosci.org/content/jneuro/8/6/2108.full.pdf

Glutamate-like immunoreactivity in identified neuronal populations of insect nervous systems

The distribution of dopamine in the brain and suboesophageal ganglion of the honeybee Apis mellifera was investigated by means of immunocytochemistry with a well-characterized antiserum against dopamine. The binding of the antiserum in paraffin serial sections was studied with the peroxidase-antiperoxidase method. Dopamine-like immunoreactive neurons are present in most parts of the brain and in the suboesophageal ganglion. Only the optic lobes are devoid of label. There are ca. 330 dopamine immunoreactive somata in each brain hemisphere plus respective suboesophageal hemiganglion, which is less than 0.1% of the entire neuronal population. Most of the labelled somata are situated within three clusters: one below the lateral calyx and two in the anterior-ventral protocerebrum. Other labelled somata lie dispersed or in small groups around the protocerebral bridge, below the optic tubercles, proximal to the ventral rim of the lobula, and in the lateral and ventral somatal rind of the suboesophageal ganglion. Similar to neurons that react with an antiserum against serotonin, the fine processes of dopamine immunoreactive fibers have a varicose appearance which is typical for aminergic neurons. In addition to the neuronal staining, dopamine-like immunoreactivity is also present in the sheath surrounding the brain and in the retina, where it is not restricted to any particular cell type.



A detailed account is given for those neurons and groups of neurons that could be traced and reconstructed in some detail. A common feature of all dopamine immunoreactive fibers is that each fiber invades large volumes of neuropil, suggesting that dopamine is more important in mediating distant rather than local neural interactions.

Sabine Schäfer

Papers

Classical conditioning of proboscis extension in honeybees (Apis mellifera).

Distribution of GABA-like immunoreactivity in the brain of the honeybee.

Glutamate-like immunoreactivity in identified neuronal populations of insect nervous systems

Dopamine-like immunoreactivity in the brain and suboesophageal ganglion of the honeybee.

Mushroom body feedback interneurones in the honeybee show GABA-like immunoreactivity