The role of sensory signals from the insect coxa-trochanteral joint in controlling motor activity of the femur-tibia joint

Interjoint coordination in multi-jointed limbs is essential for the generation of functional locomotor patterns. Here we have focused on the role that sensory signals from the coxa-trochanteral (CT) joint play in patterning motoneuronal activity of the femur-tibia (FT) joint in the stick insect middle leg. This question is of interest because when the locomotor system is active, movement signals from the FT joint are known to contribute to patterning of activity of the central rhythm-generating networks governing the CT joint. We investigated the influence of femoral levation and depression on the activity of tibial motoneurons. When the locomotor system was active, levation of the femur often induced a decrease or inactivation of tibial extensor activity while flexor motoneurons were activated. Depression of the femur had no systematic influence on tibial motoneurons. Ablation experiments revealed that this interjoint influence was not mediated by signals from movement and/or position sensitive receptors at the CT joint, i.e., trochanteral hairplate, rhombal hairplate, or internal levator receptor organ. Instead the influence was initiated by sensory signals from a field of campaniform sensillae, situated on the proximal femur (fCS). Selective stimulation of these fCS produced barrages of inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (IPSPs) in tibial extensor motoneurons and activated tibial flexor motoneurons. During pharmacologically activated rhythmic activity of the otherwise isolated mesothoracic ganglion (pilocarpine, 5 x 10(-4) M), deafferented except for the CT joint, levation of the femur as well had an inhibitory influence on tibial extensor motoneurons. However, the influence of femoral levation on the rhythm generated was rather labile and only sometimes a reset of the rhythm was induced. In none of the preparations could entrainment of rhythmicity by femoral movement be achieved, suggesting that sensory signals from the CT joint only weakly affect central rhythm-generating networks of the FT joint. Finally, we analyzed the role of sensory signals from the fCS during walking by recording motoneuronal activity in the single middle leg preparation with fCS intact and after their removal. These experiments showed that fCS activity plays an important role in generating tibial motoneuron activity during the stance phase of walking.