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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 May 3.
Published in final edited form as: J Physiol Paris. 2009 Nov 23;104(3-4):203–214. doi: 10.1016/j.jphysparis.2009.11.017

Figure 1. The Mauthner cell system and the Club ending afferents.

Figure 1

A, The M-cells mediate sound-evoked tail-flip escapes responses in teleost fish. B, Large identifiable auditory afferents innervate the rostral portion of the saccular macula (Sacculus), the main auditory component of the goldfish ear, and terminate as mixed (electrical and chemical) synapses known as Large Myelinated Club endings (“Club endings”) on the lateral dendrite of the M-cell. These terminals form mixed, electrical and chemical, synapses (Mixed synapse) with the distal portion of the M-cell lateral dendrite. Experimental arrangement used to obtain in vivo dendritic intracellular recordings of the M-cell. Stimulation of the VIIIth nerve, where Club endings run, elicits a mixed excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) composed of an early, fast electrical component (electrical) which is followed by a delayed, longer lasting glutamatergic component (chemical).