The objective of this project is to determine how different neurons containing the same neuropeptide (the peptide proctolin), and influencing the same neural network, elicit different motor patterns from that neural network. This involves electrophysiological analyses of the motor patterns elicited by each peptidergic neuron, and an immunocytochemical and biochemical analysis of the co-transmitters contained in each neuron. The co-transmitters include small molecule transmitters and other peptides. Single- and double-labeling studies of transmitter immunocytochemistry involves the confocal microscope. Additional confocal work involves studying the spatial distribution of the terminals of each proctolinergic neuron to determine whether they overlap or innervate spatially separate domains. 8-31-96
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