ASN

AS1, AS2, AS3, AS4, AS5, AS6, AS7, AS8, AS9, AS10, AS11

Type: Motor neuron
In MoW: ASn
Male Wiring Project: AS07, AS08, AS09, AS10, AS11
In Wormbase: ASn, AS1, AS2, AS3, AS4, AS5,
AS6, AS7, AS8, AS9, AS10, AS11
Lineage: P1 apa, P2 apa, P3 apa
P4 apa, P5 apa, P6 apa, P7 apa
P8 apa, P9 apa, P10 apa, P11 apa
Location: Body; Ventral cord
Description: Ventral cord motor neurons, born postembryonically. Innervate dorsal muscles, no ventral counterpart, similar to VAn but receive additional synaptic input from AVB. Note that unlike AS1-10, the commissure of AS11 originates from the posterior process. All AS commissures to DC run from the right side of the body. Hermaphrodites and males exhibit some differences in ASn connectivity.
Neurotransmitter: Acetylcholine. Rand and Nonet, 1997.
Function:
Receptor Expression: Unknown

Click pictures for higher resolution images

Male Wiring Project

Note: In males, the AS11 cell body lies posterior to the male-specific CP9 neuron, which defines the anterior boundary of the male pre-anal ganglion (see Male Tail Cell ID). In males, AS11 is therefore considered part of the pre-anal ganglion rather than the ventral nerve cord.

For Male Wiring Project details see Emmons lab website.

Schematic Diagrams of Ventral Cord motor neurons:

AS Neurons	DA and DB Neurons
VA Neurons	VB Neurons
VC Neurons	DD and VD Neurons

In all diagrams,axon processes with neuromuscular synapses (NMJ) are shown as whereas dendritic processes where synaptic inputs are received are shown as .

Class A axons run forward in both cords (VNC and DC) whereas the class B axons run backwards. The dendritic branches of the dorsal and ventral class A neurons run in opposite directions as do those from class Bneurons. Ventral class D neurons receive their synaptic input on the dorsal side and give NMJ's on the ventral side. The dorsal type D neurons have half the periodicity of their ventral counterparts and receive synapses on the ventral side and give NMJ's on the dorsal side. Class AS neurons only synapse on the dorsal side and have no ventral counterpart, whereas, the class C neurons only synapse on the ventral side. The synapses from class C motor neurons onto body muscles are less dense than for the other classes (White J. et al, 1976).