U.S.-Germany Cooperative Research: Recruitment of Neuromodulatory Neurons during Behavior

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This award supports Dr. John Levine and a post doctoral student from the University of Arizona in a collaboration with Hans Joachim Pfl¼ger of the Department of Neurobiology at the Free University of Berlin. The collaboration will determine the neuronal pathways through which identified octopaminergic modulatory neurons are recruited during well- characterized behaviors including crawling, walking, flight, kicking, and ekdysis. In addition the U.S. and German groups will determine how the patterns of modulatory neuron recruitment are modified to accommodate behavioral changes at metamorphosis. Modulatory neurons release substances, including biogenic amines or neuropeptides that influence the function of the central and peripheral nervous systems profoundly. Although there is much information regarding the effects of modulatory substances on target neurons or muscles, relatively little is understood about the neuronal circuits that activate the modulatory neurons. This collaboration will use two complementary and well- characterized insect model systems to investigate the mechanisms involved in recruitment of those neurons.