Meeting Abstract
The PD-SW cluster of serotonergic neurons of the pteropod mollusc Clione limacina have been shown to innervate the slow-twitch musculature of the wings, and to increase the electrical activity and contractility of those muscle cells. Each pedal ganglion has a cluster of PD-SW cells, however two of the cells do not send axons through the wing nerve to innervate the wing muscle. These two neurons, which have distinct background synaptic activity relative to the other cluster cells, send axons to the tail to innervate the tail musculature. When animals accelerate from slow to fast swimming, inputs to the PD-SW cluster increase firing activity of the neurons, including those that innervate the tail. This supports behavioral observations that increased tension in tail musculature is associated with the acceleratory changes seen in the wing during the change from slow to fast swimming.
