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- The anatomy of the motor neurons innervating six direct flight muscles
- in Drosophila melanogaster has been investigated by using a
- horseradish peroxidase backfilling technique. The somata of these
- motor neurons are arranged in two distinct clusters ipsilateral to the
- muscle they innervate. One cluster of cell bodies is located in the
- ventrolateral region between the prothoracic neuromere and the
- mesothoracic leg-related neuropil and the other is situated dorsally
- and posteriorly to the mesothoracic leg-related neuropil. Axons from
- somata in the ventrolateral cluster run in the anterior dorsal
- mesothoracic nerve, while axons from somata in the other cluster run
- in the mesothoracic accessory nerve. This distribution of somata and
- axons is discussed in the light of the morphological similarity and
- proximity of these functionally related muscles.
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- On the basis of the branching patterns of their neurites, direct
- flight muscle motor neurons can be classified as stubbly, fibrous or
- tufted. The terminal arborizations of the motor neurons over the
- direct flight muscles are also morphologically specialized. Both the
- central and the peripheral morphological specializations of the direct
- flight muscle motor neurons correlate with the activity patterns
- exhibited by their associated muscles during flight and courtship
- song. (C) 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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