Serial-section atlas of the Tritonia pedal ganglion

Functional mapping of the molluscan brain guided by synchrotron X-ray tomography

Molluscan brains are composed of morphologically consistent and functionally interrogable neurons, offering rich opportunities for understanding how neural circuits drive behavior. Nonetheless, detailed component-level CNS maps are often lacking, total neuron numbers are unknown, and organizational principles remain poorly defined, limiting a full and systematic characterization of circuit operation. Here, we establish an accessible, generalizable approach, harnessing synchrotron X-ray tomography, to rapidly determine the three-dimensional structure of the multimillimeter-scale CNS of Lymnaea. Focusing on the feeding ganglia, we generate a full neuron-level reconstruction, revealing key design principles and revising cell count estimates upward threefold. Our atlas uncovers the superficial but also nonsuperficial ganglionic architecture, reveals the cell organization in normally hidden regions-ganglionic "dark sides"-and details features of single-neuron morphology, together guiding targeted follow-up functional investigation based on intracellular recordings. Using this approach, we identify three pivotal neuron classes: a command-like food-signaling cell type, a feeding central pattern generator interneuron, and a unique behavior-specific motoneuron, together significantly advancing understanding of the function of this classical control circuit. Combining our morphological and electrophysiological data, we also establish a functional CNS atlas in Lymnaea as a shared and scalable resource for the research community. Our approach enables the rapid construction of cell atlases in large-scale nervous systems, with key relevance to functional circuit interrogation in a diverse range of model organisms.

Surprising multifunctionality of a Tritonia swim CPG neuron: C2 drives the early phase of postswim crawling despite being silent during the behavior

In response to a suitably aversive skin stimulus, the marine mollusk Tritonia diomedea launches an escape swim followed by several minutes of high-speed crawling. The two escape behaviors are highly dissimilar: whereas the swim is a muscular behavior involving alternating ventral and dorsal whole body flexions, the crawl is a nonrhythmic gliding behavior mediated by the beating of foot cilia. The serotonergic dorsal swim interneurons (DSIs) are members of the swim central pattern generator (CPG) and also strongly drive crawling. Although the swim network is very well understood, the Tritonia crawling network to date comprises only three neurons: the DSIs and pedal neurons 5 and 21 (Pd5 and Pd21). Since Tritonia's swim network has been suggested to have arisen from a preexisting crawling network, we examined the possible role that another swim CPG neuron, C2, may play in crawling. Because of its complete silence in the postswim crawling period, C2 had not previously been considered to play a role in driving crawling. However, semi-intact preparation experiments demonstrated that a brief C2 spike train surprisingly and strongly drives the foot cilia for ∼30 s, something that cannot be explained by its synaptic connections to Pd5 and Pd21. Voltage-sensitive dye (VSD) imaging in the pedal ganglion identified many candidate crawling motor neurons that fire at an elevated rate after the swim and also revealed several pedal neurons that are strongly excited by C2. It is intriguing that unlike the DSIs, which fire tonically after the swim to drive crawling, C2 does so despite its postswim silence.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Tritonia swim central pattern generator (CPG) neuron C2 surprisingly and strongly drives the early phase of postswim crawling despite being silent during this period. In decades of research, C2 had not been suspected of driving crawling because of its complete silence after the swim. Voltage-sensitive dye imaging revealed that the Tritonia crawling motor network may be much larger than previously known and also revealed that many candidate crawling neurons are excited by C2.

The importance of identified neurons in gastropod molluscs to neuroscience

Gastropod molluscs have large neurons that are uniquely identifiable across individuals and across species based on neuroanatomical and neurochemical criteria, facilitating research into neural signaling and neural circuits. Novel neuropeptides have been identified through RNA sequencing and mass spectroscopic analysis of single neurons. The roles of peptides and other signaling molecules including second messengers have been placed in the context of small circuits that control simple behaviors. Despite the stereotypy, neurons vary over time in their activity in large ensembles. Furthermore, there is both intra-species and inter-species variation in synaptic properties and gene expression. Research on gastropod identified neurons highlights the features that might be expected to be stable in more complex systems when trying to identify cell types.

Serial-section atlas of the Tritonia pedal ganglion

The pedal ganglion of the nudibranch gastropod Tritonia diomedea has been the focus of neurophysiological studies for more than 50 yr. These investigations have examined the neural basis of behaviors as diverse as swimming, crawling, reflex withdrawals, orientation to water flow, orientation to the earth's magnetic field, and learning. Despite this sustained research focus, most studies have confined themselves to the layer of neurons that are visible on the ganglion surface, leaving many neurons, which reside in deeper layers, largely unknown and thus unstudied. To facilitate work on such neurons, the present study used serial-section light microscopy to generate a detailed pictorial atlas of the pedal ganglion. One pedal ganglion was sectioned horizontally at 2-µm intervals and another vertically at 5-µm intervals. The resulting images were examined separately or combined into stacks to generate movie tours through the ganglion. These were also used to generate 3D reconstructions of individual neurons and rotating movies of digitally desheathed whole ganglia to reveal all surface neurons. A complete neuron count of the horizontally sectioned ganglion yielded 1,885 neurons. Real and virtual sections from the image stacks were used to reveal the morphology of individual neurons, as well as the major axon bundles traveling within the ganglion to and between its several nerves and connectives. Extensive supplemental data are provided, as well as a link to the Dryad Data Repository site, where the complete sets of high-resolution serial-section images can be downloaded. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Because of the large size and relatively low numbers of their neurons, gastropod mollusks are widely used for investigations of the neural basis of behavior. Most studies, however, focus on the neurons visible on the ganglion surface, leaving the majority, located out of sight below the surface, unexamined. The present light microscopy study generates the first detailed visual atlas of all neurons of the highly studied Tritonia pedal ganglion.