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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Mar 22.
Published in final edited form as: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2010 Jan;1184:e1–20. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2010.05432.x

Figure 3.

Figure 3

hSOD1 induces age-dependent electrophysiological defects in the giant fiber neural circuit. (A) schematic illustration of the giant fiber pathway responsible for jump-flight escape behavior. The giant fiber neuron (GFn) is located in the brain and descends to the thoracic ganglion, where it excites the motor neuron (TTMn) that innervates the TTM via an electrical synapse (marked with a lightning bolt). GFn also excites the peripherally synapsing interneuron (PSI) via an electrical synapse, which in turn excites five motor neurons (DLMn) innervating DLMs. Both DLM and TTM motor neurons synapse with their respective muscles via glutamatergic synapses. For illustrational purposes, the DLMn is shown outside the thoracic ganglion. (B) representative responses of DLM following 140-Hz stimulation of the GFn in control flies (top panels), flies expressing WT hSOD1 (second panels), flies expressing G85R (third panels). The muscle responded normally to each stimulus at 10 days but failed to follow each stimulus when aged (55 days) in the experimental flies. G85R mutation enhanced this effect. The arrows indicate failed responses. Reprinted with permission from Watson et al.