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The effects of temperature on mechanotransduction in the cockroach tactile spine

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Summary

  1. 1.

    The dynamic behaviour of the cockroach femoral tactile spine can be characterised as fractional differentiation. In the frequency domain this corresponds to a frequency response function which can be completely represented by two parameters: the gain at a frequency of 1 radian/s and an exponent of frequency.

  2. 2.

    Frequency response functions for mechanotransduction in the tactile spine have been measured at temperatures in the range of 10–40 °C. Sensory transduction fails at temperatures a few degrees Celsius outside this range.

  3. 3.

    The effect of temperature upon sensory transduction is to multiply the entire response by a constant factor, independent of frequency, at each temperature. The multiplication factor increases with warming up to about 35 °C and then decreases rapidly. The data up to 35 °C is well fitted by an Arrhenius relationship with an activation energy of 18.6 kcal/ mole.

  4. 4.

    Changing the temperature has no effect upon the exponent of frequency which stays constant at approximately 0.5, corresponding to a system which performs semi-differentiation.

  5. 5.

    The possible sites of temperature sensitivity and sensory transduction in these mechanoreceptors are discussed. Possible origins of the semi-differentiation behaviour are reviewed and a visco-elastic travelling wave model of the tubular body is suggested. Comparisons are drawn throughout to the behaviour of Pacinian corpuscles, muscle spindle primary afférents and other cuticular mechanoreceptors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, University of Alberta, T6G 2H7, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

    A. S. French & J. E. Kuster

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  1. A. S. French
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  2. J. E. Kuster
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French, A.S., Kuster, J.E. The effects of temperature on mechanotransduction in the cockroach tactile spine. J. Comp. Physiol. 147, 251–258 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00609849

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00609849

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