Reflex Control of Abdominal Flexor Muscles in the Crayfish: I. The Twitch System

Abstract

1. The flexor musculature of the crayfish abdomen is divided into two systems: a set of tonic superficial muscles, and a complex series of massive flexor muscles that produce powerful twitches but never exhibit tonic contractions. The muscle types are histologically differentiated, and also separately innervated: the main flexors receive ten large motor axons, and the slow superficial muscles six smaller ones. 2. Fibres of the main flexor muscles studied are almost all triply innervated; each receives endings from (a) the ‘motor giant’ axon, (b) one of several specific non-giant motor axons, and (c) a common inhibitor. 3. Excitatory junctional potentials (e.j.p.s) due to motor giant and non-giant axons are similar and large; each may trigger secondary, active ‘spikes’, thus often producing post-junctional responses of 100 mV. or more. The responses differ in that the motor giant e.j.p. shows a dramatic decrease upon repetitive stimulation, whereas that due to non-giant motor axons exhibits some facilitation. 4. Activity in the central giant fibres drives both motor axons. The response to both, when the motor giant system is fully rested, is slightly larger than that to either alone; when activated by stimulation of the central giant fibre the junctional potentials are evoked asynchronously due to differences in central reflex time, and double spiking in the muscle fibres sometimes results. Upon repeated stimulation the response to the giant is reduced to a very low level; this is accompanied by a decrease in the tension developed in successive reflexly evoked twitches. The motor giant system thus apparently functions to provide additional tension for the first few ‘flips’ in a series of swimming movements during escape. 5. Impulses in the inhibitor axon, even at the optimal interval, reduce the amplitude of excitatory post-junctional potentials by only a small amount; their effect in shortening duration is more notable. It is postulated that the peripheral inhibitor functions to cut short excitatory depolarizations and hence to terminate lingering tension that might oppose subsequent reflex actions.