Mauthner Cell - History of Research

History of Research

The Mauthner cell was first identified by the Viennese ophthalmologist Ludwig Mauthner in the teleost fish for its associated neural circuit which mediates an escape response called the C-start or C-startle to direct the fish away from a predator.

The M-cell is a model system in the field of Neuroethology. The M-cell system has served for detailed neurophysiological and histological investigations of synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity. Studies by Donald Faber and Henri Korn helped to establish the one vesicle hypothesis of synaptic transmission in the CNS. Other important research topics that have been investigated in the M-cell system include studies by Yoichi Oda and colleagues on inhibitory long-term potentiation and auditory conditioning of the startle response, and studies by Alberto Pereda and colleagues on plasticity of electrical synapses. Other research topics investigated in the M-cell system include studies of spinal neural networks and neural regeneration by Joe Fetcho and colleagues, as well as underwater sound localization, and the biophysics of computation in single neurons.