( e next step was to analyse the circuit ...)Two nerve cells in direct contact

e next step was to analyse the circuit diagram of the tangential cells of the lobula plate in detail. This was based on a multitude of experiments in which the connections between the cells within one lobular plate and those between the two hemispheres were examined. In the end it turned out that there were two ways in which movement information from one half of the brain could reach the H2 cell in the other: firstly, directly from the so-called HSE cell, which is electrically linked to the H2 cell in the opposite hemisphere and secondly, indirectly via the CH cell, which receives information via several intermediate stops from the other half of the brain and which inhibits the H2 cell on the same side with chemical synapses. Both connections were in principle suitable for achieving the effect described; however the question remained: which of the two is the crucial one?

The Max Planck scientists therefore blocked the two possible routes selectively with laser ablation (the cell is filled with fluorescent dye which has a toxic effect when strongly stimulated) and tested sensitivity to rotation in the H2 cell. A long series of these technically very difficult experiments provided unambiguous proof: if the ipsilateral CH cell was destroyed, no effect was seen on the rotation sensitivity of the H2 cell. However, if the contralateral HSE cell was removed from the circuit, the rotation sensitivity of the H2 cell disappeared. It was blind to the movement stimuli in front of the other eye, irrespective of whether it was combined with the ipsilateral movement stimuli.

Alexander Borst enthused about the discovery: "The genius of this circuitry is in its simplicity: with a single electrical link between two cells from the halves of the brain, one cell is selective for rotation flow fields." Whether nature has constructed similarly simple mechanisms in mammals is still unclear - the circuitry of the nerve cells in the relevant areas in the cerebral cortex has
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Source:Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

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