Knollenorgan afferents project into the nucleus of the electrosensory lateral line lobe.
This diagram shows the electrosensory lateral line lobe of the mormyrid, Brienomyrus brachyistius in transverse section. The tissue has been stained to label the calcium-binding protein, calretinin. The knollenorgan afferents terminate on the large spherical cells in the NELL. The NELL is enlarged in the diagram below. The spherical cells stain darkly for calretinin. (From Friedman and Kawasaki (1997))
| Diagram of the large, spherical cells in the nELL with the primary afferent terminals from the Knollenorgan electroreceptor. The small diameter axons arise from the electric organ command discharge, and serve to inhibit the firing of the spherical cell at the time when the fish would fire its own EOD. | Timing diagram showing the effects of command inhibition. Trace "i" shows a recording of the command inhibition, trace "ii" shows the ipsp recorded intracellularly in the spherical cell of the nELL. Trace "iii" shows the excitatory potential from the Knollenorgan afferent, as recorded through the electrotonic synapse from within the cell body of the spherical cell. The lowest trace shows the command discharge in the spinal cord. The fish's EOD has been silenced with curare. |
From Bell, C.C. and Grant, K. (1989) |
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Knollenorgan Pathway
EOD
Recognition
Knollenorgan Receptor
Bell, C. C. and Grant, K. (1989). Corollary discharge inhibition and preservation of temporal information in a sensory nucleus of mormyrid electric fish. J. Neuroscience 9, 1029-1044.
Friedman, M. A. and Kawasaki, M. (1997). Calretinin immunoreactivity in mormyrid and gymnarchid electrosensory systems. J. comp. Neurol. 387, 341-357.