Animal-to-animal variability in neuromodulation and circuit function

Abstract

Each animal alive in the world is different from all other individuals, while sharing most attributes of form and function with others of the same species. Still other attributes are shared within a phylum, and still others are common to most eukaryotic organisms. All animals have mechanisms that modulate the strength of their synapses or alter the intrinsic excitability of component neurons. What animal-to-animal variability in behavior arises from differences in neuronal structure, ion channel expression, or connectivity, and what variability arises from neuromodulation of brain states? Conversely, can robust behavior be maintained despite variability in circuit components by the action of neuromodulatory inputs? These are fundamental issues relevant to all nervous systems that have been illuminated by many years of study of the small, rhythmic motor circuits found in the crustacean stomatogastric nervous system.