Macroscopic characteristics of the praying mantis electroretinogram

- We described the macroscopic characteristics of the praying mantis ERG in three species.
- The ERG included both photoreceptor and lamina monopolar cell (LMC) component waveforms.
- Metabolic stress selectively eliminated the LMC responses.
- Photoreceptors and LMCs displayed different gains in response to increasing stimulus brightness.
- Increased light adaptation resulted in more efficient contrast coding.

We described the macroscopic characteristics of the praying mantis ERG in three species, Tenodera aridifolia sinensis, Sphodromantis lineola, and Popa spurca. In all cases, when elicited by square wave light pulses longer than 400 ms, light adapted (LA) ERGs consisted of four component waveforms: a cornea negative transient and sustained ON, a cornea negative transient OFF, and a cornea positive sustained OFF. The former two ON, and the latter OFF components were attributed to photoreceptor depolarization and repolarization, respectively. Metabolic stress via CO2 induced anoxia selectively eliminated the transient OFF (independent of its effect on the other components) suggesting the transient OFF represents activity of the lamina interneurons on which the photoreceptors synapse. Dark adapted (DA) ERGs differed from LA ERGs in that the sustained ON and OFF amplitudes were larger, and the transient ON and OFF components were absent. Increased stimulus durations increased the amplitudes and derivatives of, and decreased the latencies to the maximum amplitudes of the OFF components. Increasing stimulus intensity increased the amplitude of the sustained ON and OFF components, but not the transient OFF. These results suggest that the mantis' visual system displays increased contrast coding efficiency with increased light adaptation, and that there are differences in gain between photoreceptor and lamina interneuron responses. Finally, responses to luminance decrements as brief a 1 ms were evident in LA recordings, and were resolved at frequencies up to 60 Hz.