Complex Neuronal Communication Behind Jump Execution When danger
looms, locusts on the ground leap and fly away. The timing and
precision of that leap starts with the complex coding of visual
information within a single neuron. In the current edition of
the journal Neuron, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine
and the University of Utah uncovered three distinct features in
the communication process of a sensory neuron that control
distinct motor aspects of escape behavior ““ firing rate
threshold, peak firing time and spike count. "This process has
been studied for years but it is only now that we have been able
to record firing rates of neurons in freely moving animals,"
said Dr. Fabrizio Gabbiani, associate professor of neuroscience
at BCM. "When movement happens naturally, its relation to
neuronal firing is interpreted more easily and accurately." Jump
muscles in the leg Researchers at the University of Utah created
a microchip used along with a digital telemetry system that
allowed Haleh Fotowat, a gr