Fluorescence and ultrastructural localization of aminergic neurons in the nerve cord of Eisenia foetida (annelida--oligochaeta)

The aminergic nature of the CV neurons present in the genital segments of the nerve cord of Eisenia foetida is demonstrated by fluorescence microscopy and by the chromaffin reaction modified for electron microscopy.

Possible sites of ultrafiltration in Tubifex tubifex Müller (annelida, oligochaeta)

The endothelia of Tubifex tubifex Müller consist of myoendothelial cells, chloragocytes, or podocytes. The latter seem to occur only as windows on the ventral vessel which has an endothelium of myoendothelial cells elsewhere. The podocytes are large cells, with several processes on the inner side which ramify into several pedicels. These are aligned upon the outside of the basement membrane which lines the inside of the endothelium. The gaps between adjacent pedicels are about 40 nm wide. In capillaries fenestrated endothelia occur with irregular spacings measuring up to 0.4-1 micron. A diaphragm in podocytes or capillary fenestrations do not seem to exist. The basement membrane is the only continuous layer lining the blood vessels and capillaries of Tubifex with a rather uniform diameter in the range of 50nm. It is the only permeability barrier between blood and coelomic fluid.

The contractile mechanism in cilia

A detailed analysis is made of the motion and the forces in the cilium of Sabellaria over the complete cycle. The results indicate that the stiffness of the cilium is directly related to the moments produced by the internal contractile elements. A sliding filament model is developed to generate the complete cycle of motion. The activation of the force-producing elements, the peripheral fibers, occurs over their entire length at once during the effective stroke. In the recovery stroke the sliding of peripheral fibers relative to each other produces activation. The peripheral fibers contribute to the stiffness of the cilium in the sliding filament model only when they are not free to slide because of cross-linkage. The model describes successfully the motion of a variety of types of cilia.

Mucous hypersecretion induced in isolated mucociliated epithelial cells by a factor in heated serum

A factor in the serum of the marine coelomate, Sipunculus nudus, induced by injecting a mixture of a marine bacterial vibrio and a solution of dried cholera toxin, will, after heating to 85 to 90 C, cause intensive continuous hypersecretion of mucus in isolated free-swimming mucociliated cells from another Sipunculus. The factor, released from coleomic cells into the serum, is heat stable to 90 C, withstands several freeze-thawings, is induced only by specific stimuli, is rapidly released into the serum, persists for different time spans depending on the stimulus, and is not present in normal heated sera. It is proposed that in nature this factor is balanced by a heat labile inhibitory factor. Cholera toxin alone is a feeble stimulus. The marine vibrio alone is a powerful stimulus to mucus secretion but lethal for the host. In combination with cholera toxin, the vibrio is nonlethal.

Proventriculus of a marine annelid: muscle preparation with the longest recorded sarcomere

EACH MUSCLE OF THE SYLLID (ANNELIDA: Polychaeta) proventriculus, the region of the gut posterior to the pharynx, contains a single zigzagging Z band, flanked on each side by a sequence of I-A-H-A-I bands defined by thick (60-90 nm) and thin (5 nm) filaments. The thick filaments show a 14-nm periodicity similar to paramyosin. The muscle cell terminates at the level of the outer I bands. The muscle does not include a complete sarcomere in the strict sense, as defined by a pair of Z bands, but the equivalent H-H distance reaches about 40 mum. Electrophysiological evidence suggests that contraction and relaxation of the cell are, respectively, associated with depolarizing and hyperpolarizing potentials.