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Whole mount of buccal ganglion of Helisoma trivolvis stained for SCPb immunoreactivity. |
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| Techniques
and experimental approaches range from videomicroscopy of freely behaving
intact animals through electrophysiological and pharmacological analyses
of neural circuitry, and determination of mechanisms of action of specific
neurotransmitters. Immunocytochemistry and a number of neuronal staining
techniques are used to determine the morphology of physiologically characterized
identifiable neurons.
The Murphy laboratory has
focused pimarily on the neural circuitry underlying feeding and regurgitation
in the pond snail, Helisoma trivolvis. The multifunctional CPG in the buccal
ganglia has been extensively characterized. Its output can be modulated
under experimental control to produce feeding and regurgitation behaviors.
A model of the Helisoma CPG has been presented and hypothesized to serve
as a "Universal Model" for buccal CPGs in rasping gastropods.
Dopaminergic interneuron
N1a
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Dopaminergic interneuron N1a (A) (A) Morphology of interneuron N1a as revealed by Lucifer yellow injections. A composite tracinc was made from projections of Ektachrome slides photographed at several different focal planes (B) The FaGlu histochemical technique indicated the presence of dopamine in interneuron N1a. An electrophysiologically characterized neuron N1a was injected with the dye, reactive red # 4, prior to processing the preparation for FaGlu histochemistry.
FaGlu labelling of presumptive
dopaminergic neuronal somata in the left buccal ganglion. The prominent
bright soma near the left edge is interneuron N1a. The preparation was
photographed using a filter combination designed for Lucifer Yellow.
The FaGlu-sensitive soma displayed dye that was injected into the electrophysiologically
characterized interneuron N1a. The soma of only neuron N1a was visible
when the preparation was photographed with a filter combination designed
for rhodamine. Calibration bar = 100 mm.
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> Graduate Student Info. > UIC Neurobio. Grad. Students > Applications Online > Faculty Research > Research Facilities > Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience |
Undergraduate Teaching: Biology of the Brain (intro. survey); Cell and Molecular Neurobiology; Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory; Comparitive Animal Behavior; Animal Physiology and Neurophysiology; Neuroetholgoy. | 
Quinlan, EM, Arnett, BC, and Murphy AD. (1997). Feeding stimulants
activate an identified dopaminergic interneuron that induces the feeding
motor program in Helisoma. J. Neurophysiol. 78.(2):
812-824. |
> Links to UIC Neuro Groups > Resources on the Internet > NeuroHumor (cartoons) |
Murphy's
Graduate Seminars:
Model Neural Networks and Behavior; Neuropeptides and Behavior; Neural Control of Molluscan Feeding; Ion Channels and Neuronal Excitability; Neurobiology of Feeding and Appetite; Non-Classical Effects and Mechanisms of Action of Classical Neurotransmitters. |
Technical Contacts:
Chris
Brannen, University of Illinois at Chicago; Department of Biological
Sciences (1999).
