Achievement

Homeostatic regulation of neuronal activity is integral to neural function. The pyloric central pattern generator (pCPG) of the stomatogastric ganglion is a model of homeostatic regulation. This small neural circuit controls the filtering action of the pylorus in the crustacean stomach, and its activity is maintained within strict and well-characterized bounds throughout the life of the animal. However, when this circuit is isolated from top-down control via neuromodulatory input, a process termed decentralization, the pCPG briefly loses its characteristic rhythmic activity. A variety of homeostatic changes over a period of 3-5 days then allows the pyloric circuit to recover its previous activity profile. Our preliminary data shows that one family of molecules implicated in these studies, chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans, are also an important functional component of crustacean neuronal extracellular matrix, and are involved in homeostatic regulation of pyloric activity.