Stomatogastric nervous system

The Stomatogastric Nervous System (STNS) is a commonly studied neural network composed of several ganglia in arthropods that controls the motion of the gut and foregut.

It is a model system for motor pattern generation because of the small number of cells, which are comparatively large and can be reliably identified.

Understanding how neuronal networks enable animals and humans to make coordinated movements is a continuing goal of neuroscience research.

The stomatogastric nervous system of decapod crustaceans, which controls aspects of feeding, has contributed significantly to the general principles guiding our present understanding of how rhythmic motor circuits operate at the cellular level.

This flexibility results largely from the ability of different neuromodulators to change the cellular and synaptic properties of individual circuit neurons.

stomatogastric ganglion text
The photo shows the stomatogastric ganglion (STG) of a Jonah crab ( Cancer borealis ), taken by Marie Suver (California Institute of Technology; with permission) during the Neural Systems & Behavior course at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA. The STG contains the somata of 26 neurons that belong to two central pattern generating neural circuits (gastric mill and pyloric circuit)
stomatogastric pacemaker neuron text
This photo shows the pyloric dilator neuron, a pacemaker neuron in the STG that was stained via intracellular injection of a fluorescent dye . The inset shows a recording of the rhythmic oscillations of the PD membrane potential. The recordings were taken by Christopher Goldsmith in the lab of Wolfgang Stein at Illinois State University .