Two central pattern generators from the crab, Cancer borealis, respond robustly and differentially to extreme extracellular pH

• Published in: eLife
• Main Authors: Jessica A Haley, David Hampton, Eve Marder
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: eLife Sciences Publications Ltd 2018
• Subjects: Cancer borealis; stomatogastric ganglion; cardiac ganglion; pyloric rhythm; crustacean; ocean acidification; Medicine; R; Science; Q; Biology (General); QH301-705.5; Ocean acidification
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.41877; https://doaj.org/article/8442771ed3e34d51a4ec8828ef954a40

The activity of neuronal circuits depends on the properties of the constituent neurons and their underlying synaptic and intrinsic currents. We describe the effects of extreme changes in extracellular pH – from pH 5.5 to 10.4 – on two central pattern generating networks, the stomatogastric and cardiac ganglia of the crab, Cancer borealis. Given that the physiological properties of ion channels are known to be sensitive to pH within the range tested, it is surprising that these rhythms generally remained robust from pH 6.1 to pH 8.8. The pH sensitivity of these rhythms was highly variable between animals and, unexpectedly, between ganglia. Animal-to-animal variability was likely a consequence of similar network performance arising from variable sets of underlying conductances. Together, these results illustrate the potential difficulty in generalizing the effects of environmental perturbation across circuits, even within the same animal.