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Background: To what extent are the properties of neuronal networks constrained by computational considerations? Comparative analysis of the vertical lobe (VL) system, a brain structure involved in learning and memory, in two phylogenetically close cephalopod mollusks, Octopus vulgaris and the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis, provides a surprising answer to this question., Results: We show that in both the octopus and the cuttlefish the VL is characterized by the same simple fan-out fan-in connectivity architecture, composed of the same three neuron types. Yet, the sites of short- and long-term synaptic plasticity and neuromodulation are different. In the octopus, synaptic plasticity occurs at the fan-out glutamatergic synaptic layer, whereas in the cuttlefish plasticity is found at the fan-in cholinergic synaptic layer., Conclusions: Does this dramatic difference in physiology imply a difference in function? Not necessarily. We show that the physiological properties of the VL neurons, particularly the linear input-output relations of the intermediate layer neurons, allow the two different networks to perform the same computation. The convergence of different networks to the same computational capacity indicates that it is the computation, not the specific properties of the network, that is self-organized or selected for by evolutionary pressure., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present study investigates the feasibility of excitotoxic lesions in the cuttlefish in the mapping of brain functions in Cephalopods. Adult animals were injected locally with a neurotoxin, kainic acid. The brain region receiving the neurotoxin was the vertical lobe, a key brain structure for learning and memory processes. Brain damage induced by these injections was evaluated using different histological stainings: hematoxilin-eosin, Fink-Heimer and DAPI. The results were compared with histological changes after electrolytic lesion of the vertical lobe. Neurodegeneration was revealed in and around the injection site: an intense area of proliferative cells, degenerating terminal axon ramifications and cell death. In comparison with electrolytic lesion, excitotoxic lesion displays important advantages, since fibres of passage are not destroyed by kainic acid injection, which induces only a restricted lesion and so is an appropriate method of investigating the role of the vertical lobe or other brain regions in a Cephalopod model, Sepia officinalis.

This study aims to analyze the effects of electrolytic lesion, restricted to either the ventral or the dorsal parts of the vertical lobe (VL), on the behavior of cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis). Two behavioral tests were performed on sham-operated and lesioned cuttlefish: assessment of locomotor activity in an open field and determination of spatial learning abilities in a T maze. The results showed that ventral lesions of the VL led to marked impairment in the acquisition of spatial learning, whereas dorsal lesions of the VL increased locomotor activity in the open field and impaired long-term retention of spatial learning. This study establishes for the first time the existence of distinct functions in the ventral and the dorsal parts of the VL in cephalopods.