Burst Firing in a Motion-Sensitive Neural Pathway Correlates with Expansion Properties of Looming Objects that Evoke Avoidance Behaviors

The locust visual system contains a well-defined motion-sensitive pathway that transfers visual input to motor centers involved in predator evasion and collision avoidance. One interneuron in this pathway, the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD), is typically described as using rate coding; edge expansion of approaching objects causes an increased rate of neuronal firing that peaks after a certain retinal threshold angle is exceeded. However, evidence of intrinsic DCMD bursting properties combined with observable oscillations in mean firing rates and tight clustering of spikes in raw traces, suggest that bursting may be important for motion detection. Sensory neuron bursting provides important timing information about dynamic stimuli in many model systems, yet no studies have rigorously investigated if bursting occurs in the locust DCMD during object approach. We presented repetitions of 30 looming stimuli known to generate behavioral responses to each of 20 locusts in order to identify and quantify putative bursting activity in the DCMD. Overall, we found a bimodal distribution of inter-spike intervals (ISI) with peaks of more frequent and shorter ISIs occurring from 1–8 ms and longer less frequent ISIs occurring from 40–50 ms. Subsequent analysis identified bursts and isolated single spikes from the responses. Bursting frequency increased in the latter phase of an approach and peaked at the time of collision, while isolated spiking was predominant during the beginning of stimulus approach. We also found that the majority of inter-burst intervals (IBIs) occurred at 40–50 ms (or 20–25 bursts/s). Bursting also occurred across varied stimulus parameters and suggests that burst timing may be a key component of looming detection. Our findings suggest that the DCMD uses two modes of coding to transmit information about looming stimuli and that these modes change dynamically with a changing stimulus at a behaviorally-relevant time.