Ultrastructure of the synaptic terminals of the dorsal giant serotonin-IR neuron and deutocerebral commissure interneurons in the accessory and olfactory lobes of the crayfish.

The olfactory and accessory lobes in the crayfish are large spherical neuropils found on each side of its brain. The olfactory lobes receive the afferent axons of chemoreceptors that are located along the outer branches of the biramous first antennae. The accessory lobes receive a large input from interneurons whose axons lie in the deutocerebral commissure. A pair of large serotonergic neurons (the dorsal giant neurons) branch unilaterally in the accessory and olfactory lobes of each side. From physiological recordings, it has been proposed that the deutocerebral commissure interneurons synapse with elements in the accessory lobes that in turn connect to the dorsal giant neuron. It has also been proposed that the dorsal giant neuron is activated by inputs in the accessory lobe and that its output is in the olfactory lobe. This ultrastructural study tests this hypotheses by examining the polarity of synaptic terminals on dorsal giant neurons and deutocerebral interneurons that have been filled with neurobiotin. In double-labelled preparations, we found the deutocerebral interneurons to be presynaptic to elements in the accessory lobes, but none of these postsynaptic elements was identifiable as the dorsal giant neuron. The dorsal giant neurons receive many more synaptic inputs in the accessory lobes than in the olfactory lobe. Very few giant serotonin neuron output synapses were found in either lobe.