Dynamic properties of cockroach cercal “threadlike” hair sensilla

Input--output (I--O) relationships were studied in cercal "thread-hair" sensilla (THS) on Periplaneta americana L. by recording from individual axons of THS while displacing the corresponding hair with a galvanometric device. Sinusoidal analysis was attempted and pulse- and ramplike displacements were then tested. The effects of stimulus orientation were also investigated. THS were spontaneously active and purely phasic and did not respond to sustained displacements. With small sinusoidal displacements (less than 30 degrees) they behaved as a linear, second-order lead system sensitive to velocity. With larger amplitudes, however, they exhibited prominent nonlinear features with minimal consequences of displacements at the extremes. Responses to other waveforms indicated second-order response components. THS were directionally sensitive. Phasic behavior and the nonlinearities may be due to mechanical properties at the base of the hair. The spike-firing threshold may also contribute. Resting activity appears to be due to neuronal factors since it was not abolished by preventing hair movements. Transducer operations were simulated in a digital computer.