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Cunningham K, Anderson DJ, Weissbourd B. Jellyfish for the study of nervous system evolution and function. Curr Opin Neurobiol 2024; 88:102903. [PMID: 39167996 PMCID: PMC11681554 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2024.102903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2023] [Revised: 07/17/2024] [Accepted: 07/24/2024] [Indexed: 08/23/2024]
Abstract
Jellyfish comprise a diverse clade of free-swimming predators that arose prior to the Cambrian explosion. They play major roles in ocean ecosystems via a suite of complex foraging, reproductive, and defensive behaviors. These behaviors arise from decentralized, regenerative nervous systems composed of body parts that generate the appropriate part-specific behaviors autonomously following excision. Here, we discuss the organization of jellyfish nervous systems and opportunities afforded by the recent development of a genetically tractable jellyfish model for systems and evolutionary neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Cunningham
- Department of Biology and The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - David J Anderson
- Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience, Caltech, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
| | - Brandon Weissbourd
- Department of Biology and The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA.
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2
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Satterlie RA. The search for ancestral nervous systems: an integrative and comparative approach. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 218:612-7. [PMID: 25696824 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.110387] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Even the most basal multicellular nervous systems are capable of producing complex behavioral acts that involve the integration and combination of simple responses, and decision-making when presented with conflicting stimuli. This requires an understanding beyond that available from genomic investigations, and calls for a integrative and comparative approach, where the power of genomic/transcriptomic techniques is coupled with morphological, physiological and developmental experimentation to identify common and species-specific nervous system properties for the development and elaboration of phylogenomic reconstructions. With careful selection of genes and gene products, we can continue to make significant progress in our search for ancestral nervous system organizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A Satterlie
- Department of Biology and Marine Biology and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, NC 28409, USA
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3
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Mason BM, Cohen JH. Long-wavelength photosensitivity in coral planula larvae. THE BIOLOGICAL BULLETIN 2012; 222:88-92. [PMID: 22589399 DOI: 10.1086/bblv222n2p88] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
Light influences the swimming behavior and settlement of the planktonic planula larvae of coral, but little is known regarding the photosensory biology of coral at this or any life-history stage. Here we used changes in the electrical activity of coral planula tissue upon light flashes to investigate the photosensitivity of the larvae. Recordings were made from five species: two whose larvae are brooded and contain algal symbionts (Porites astreoides and Agaricia agaricites), and three whose larvae are spawned and lack algal symbionts (Acropora cervicornis, Acropora palmata,and Montastrea faveolata). Photosensitivity originated from the coral larva rather than from, or in addition to, its algal symbionts as species with and without symbionts displayed similar tissue-level electrical responses to light. All species exhibited as much (or more) sensitivity to red stimuli as to blue/green stimuli, which is consistent with a role for long-wavelength visible light in the preference for substrata observed during settlement and in facilitating vertical positioning of larvae in the water column.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin M Mason
- University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, FL 33149, USA.
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4
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Mackie G, Meech R, Spencer A. A new inhibitory pathway in the jellyfish Polyorchis penicillatus. CAN J ZOOL 2012. [DOI: 10.1139/z11-124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Contact of food with the manubrial lips in the genus Polyorchis A. Agassiz, 1862 evokes trains of electrical impulses (E potentials) that propagate to the margin. E potentials are also produced by food stimuli at the margin and tentacle bases. E potentials are shown to be associated with inhibitory postsynaptic potentials (ipsps) in the swimming motor neurons and contribute to the arrest of swimming during feeding. The conduction pathway for E potentials is a nerve plexus located in the endodermal walls of the stomach and radial and ring canals. We have explored the conducting properties of the system; the conduction velocity varies with stimulus frequency but is about 15 cm/s when stimuli are more than 50 s apart. Neurites belonging to the E system run around the margin adjacent to the inner nerve ring, where the swimming pacemaker neurons are located. We suggest that they may make inhibitory synapses on to the swimming motor neurons, but this has yet to be demonstrated anatomically. The reversal potential for ipsps, recorded intracellularly with potassium acetate micropipettes, was estimated to be about –69 mV. Swimming inhibition mediated by this endodermal pathway is distinct from that observed during protective “crumpling” behaviour and that associated with contractions of the radial muscles seen during feeding, though it may accompany the latter.
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Affiliation(s)
- G.O. Mackie
- Department of Biology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3N5, Canada
| | - R.W. Meech
- Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, University Walk, Bristol BS8 1TD, UK
| | - A.N. Spencer
- Vancouver Island University, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5, Canada
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5
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Abstract
The traditional view of the cnidarian nervous system is of a diffuse nerve net that functions as both a conducting and an integrating system; this is considered an indicator of a primitive condition. Yet, in medusoid members, varying degrees of nerve net compression and neuronal condensation into ganglion-like structures represent more centralized integrating centers. In some jellyfish, this relegates nerve nets to motor distribution systems. The neuronal condensation follows a precept of neuronal organization of higher animals with a relatively close association with the development and elaboration of sensory structures. Nerve nets still represent an efficient system for diffuse, non-directional activation of broad, two-dimensional effector sheets, as required by the radial, non-cephalized body construction. However, in most jellyfish, an argument can be made for the presence of centralized nervous systems that interact with the more diffuse nerve nets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A Satterlie
- Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington and Center for Marine Science, 5600 Marvin K. Moss Lane, Wilmington, NC 28409, USA
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6
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Garm A, Ekström P. Evidence for multiple photosystems in jellyfish. INTERNATIONAL REVIEW OF CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY 2010; 280:41-78. [PMID: 20797681 DOI: 10.1016/s1937-6448(10)80002-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Cnidarians are often used as model animals in studies of eye and photopigment evolution. Most cnidarians display photosensitivity at some point in their lifecycle ranging from extraocular photoreception to image formation in camera-type eyes. The available information strongly suggests that some cnidarians even possess multiple photosystems. The evidence is strongest within Cubomedusae where all known species posses 24 eyes of four morphological types. Physiological experiments show that each cubomedusan eye type likely constitutes a separate photosystem controlling separate visually guided behaviors. Further, the visual system of cubomedusae also includes extraocular photoreception. The evidence is supported by immunocytochemical and molecular data indicating multiple photopigments in cubomedusae as well as in other cnidarians. Taken together, available data suggest that multiple photosystems had evolved already in early eumetazoans and that their original level of organization was discrete sets of special-purpose eyes and/or photosensory cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anders Garm
- Department of Comparative Zoology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Garm A, Mori S. Multiple photoreceptor systems control the swim pacemaker activity in box jellyfish. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010; 212:3951-60. [PMID: 19946073 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.031559] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Like all other cnidarian medusae, box jellyfish propel themselves through the water by contracting their bell-shaped body in discrete swim pulses. These pulses are controlled by a swim pacemaker system situated in their sensory structures, the rhopalia. Each medusa has four rhopalia each with a similar set of six eyes of four morphologically different types. We have examined how each of the four eye types influences the swim pacemaker. Multiple photoreceptor systems, three of the four eye types, plus the rhopalial neuropil, affect the swim pacemaker. The lower lens eye inhibits the pacemaker when stimulated and provokes a strong increase in the pacemaker frequency upon light-off. The upper lens eye, the pit eyes and the rhopalial neuropil all have close to the opposite effect. When these responses are compared with all-eye stimulations it is seen that some advanced integration must take place.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Garm
- Section of Aquatic Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Satterlie RA. Control of swimming in the hydrozoan jellyfish Aequorea victoria: subumbrellar organization and local inhibition. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2008; 211:3467-77. [PMID: 18931319 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.018952] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The subumbrella of the hydrozoan jellyfish Aequorea victoria (previously classified as Aequorea aequorea) is divided by numerous radial canals and attached gonads, so the subumbrellar musculature is partitioned into subumbrellar segments. The ectoderm of each segment includes two types of muscle: smooth muscle with a radial orientation, used for local (feeding and righting) and widespread (protective) radial responses, and striated muscle with a circular orientation which produces swim contractions. Two subumbrellar nerve nets were found, one of which stained with a commercial antibody produced against the bioactive peptide FMRFamide. Circular muscle cells produce a single, long-duration action potential with each swim, triggered by a single junctional potential. In addition, the circular cells are electrically coupled so full contractions require both electrotonic depolarization from adjacent cells and synaptic input from a subumbrellar nerve net. The radial cells, which form a layer superficial to the circular cells, are also activated by a subumbrellar nerve net, and produce short-duration action potentials. The radial muscle cells are electrically coupled to one another. No coupling exists between the two muscle layers. Spread of excitation between adjacent segments is decremental, and nerve net-activated junctional potentials disappear during local inhibition of swimming (such as with a radial response). Variable swim contractions are controlled by a combination of synaptic input from the motor network of the inner nerve ring, synaptic input from a subumbrellar nerve net, and electrotonic depolarization from adjacent, active muscle cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Richard A Satterlie
- Department of Biology and Marine Biology and Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, NC 28409, USA.
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9
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Garm A, Bielecki J. Swim pacemakers in box jellyfish are modulated by the visual input. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 2008; 194:641-51. [PMID: 18446348 DOI: 10.1007/s00359-008-0336-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2008] [Revised: 04/11/2008] [Accepted: 04/12/2008] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
A major part of the cubozoan central nervous system is situated in the eye-bearing rhopalia. One of the neuronal output channels from the rhopalia carries a swim pacemaker signal, which has a one-to-one relation with the swim contractions of the bell shaped body. Given the advanced visual system of box jellyfish and that the pacemaker signal originates in the vicinity of these eyes, it seems logical to assume that the pacemakers are modified by the visual input. Here, the firing frequency and distribution of inter-signal intervals (ISIs) of single pacemakers are examined in the Caribbean box jellyfish, Tripedalia cystophora. It is shown that the absolute ambient light intensity, if kept constant, has no influence on the signal, but if the intensity changes, it has a major impact on both frequency and ISIs. If the intensity suddenly drops there is an increase in firing frequency, and the ISIs become more homogeneously distributed. A rise in intensity, on the other hand, produces a steep decline in the frequency and makes the ISIs highly variable. These electrophysiological data are correlated with behavioral observations from the natural habitat of the medusae.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Garm
- Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.
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Garm A, O'Connor M, Parkefelt L, Nilsson DE. Visually guided obstacle avoidance in the box jellyfish Tripedalia cystophora and Chiropsella bronzie. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2007; 210:3616-23. [PMID: 17921163 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.004044] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Box jellyfish, cubomedusae, possess an impressive total of 24 eyes of four morphologically different types. Two of these eye types, called the upper and lower lens eyes, are camera-type eyes with spherical fish-like lenses. Compared with other cnidarians, cubomedusae also have an elaborate behavioral repertoire, which seems to be predominantly visually guided. Still, positive phototaxis is the only behavior described so far that is likely to be correlated with the eyes. We have explored the obstacle avoidance response of the Caribbean species Tripedalia cystophora and the Australian species Chiropsella bronzie in a flow chamber. Our results show that obstacle avoidance is visually guided. Avoidance behavior is triggered when the obstacle takes up a certain angle in the visual field. The results do not allow conclusions on whether color vision is involved but the strength of the response had a tendency to follow the intensity contrast between the obstacle and the surroundings (chamber walls). In the flow chamber Tripedalia cystophora displayed a stronger obstacle avoidance response than Chiropsella bronzie since they had less contact with the obstacles. This seems to follow differences in their habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- A Garm
- Department of Cell and Organism Biology, Lund University, Helgonavägen 3, 22362 Lund, Sweden.
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Koizumi O. Nerve ring of the hypostome in hydra: is it an origin of the central nervous system of bilaterian animals? BRAIN, BEHAVIOR AND EVOLUTION 2007; 69:151-9. [PMID: 17230023 DOI: 10.1159/000095204] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
A hypothesis, 'the nerve ring in hydra shares a common origin with the central nervous system in bilaterian animals', is discussed in this review. The nerve ring of hydra is a ring of neurons whose neurites make a bundle running circumferentially around the hypostome just above the tentacle zone. This nervous structure has unique features in the hydra nervous system. It shows a tight association of neurons in contrast to the diffuse nerve net seen in other regions. It shows static developmental characters in contrast to the dynamic features of hydra nerve net present in other regions. Moreover, its structure and location are similar to the central nervous system (CNS) of other animals without a complex CNS such as nematodes and starfishes. Functions of the hydra nerve ring are also studied to test the hypothesis. The identified function is a crumpling of the tentacles, corresponding to the function of the inner nerve ring of hydrozoan jellyfish. The jellyfish nerve ring is considered to be a primitive central nervous system of radiates. Considering all the information available, the hypothesis is highly possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Osamu Koizumi
- Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Environmental Science, Fukuoka Women's University, Fukuoka, Japan.
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12
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Abstract
Cnidarians are the most primitive present-day invertebrates to have multicellular light-detecting organs, called ocelli (eyes). These photodetectors include simple eyespots, pigment cups, complex pigment cups with lenses, and camera-type eyes with a cornea, lens, and retina. Ocelli are composed of sensory photoreceptor cells interspersed among nonsensory pigment cells. The photoreceptor cells are bipolar, the apical end forming a light-receptor process and the basal end forming an axon. These axons synapse with second-order neurons that may form ocular nerves. A cilium with a 9 + 2 arrangement of microtubules projects from the receptor-cell process. Depending on the species, the membrane covering the cilium shows several variations, including evaginating microvilli. In the cubomedusae stacks of membranes fill the apical regions of the photoreceptor cells. Pigment cells are rich in pigment granules, and in some animals the distal regions of these cells form tubular processes that project into the cavity of the ocellus. Microvilli may extend laterally from these tubular processes and interdigitate with the microvilli from the ciliary membranes of photoreceptor cells. Photoreceptor cells respond to changes in light intensity with graded potentials that are directly proportional to the range of the changes in light intensity. In the Hydrozoa these cells may be electrically coupled to each other through gap junctions. Light affects the behavioral activities of cnidarians, including diel vertical migration, responses to rapid changes in light intensity, and reproduction. Medusae with the most highly modified photoreceptors demonstrate the most complex photic behaviors. The sophisticated visual system of the cubomedusan jellyfish Carybdea marsupialis is described. Extraocular photosensitivity is widespread throughout the cnidarians, with neurons, epithelial cells, and muscle cells mediating light detection. Rhodopsin-like and opsin-like proteins are present in the photoreceptor cells of the complex eyes of some cubomedusae and in some neurons of hydras. Neurons expressing glutamate, serotonin, γ-aminobutyric acid, and RFamide (Arg-Phe-amide) are found in close proximity to the complex eyes of cubomedusae; these neurotransmitters may function in the photic system of the jellyfish. Pax genes are expressed in cnidarians; these genes may control many developmental pathways, including eye development. The photobiology of cnidarians is similar in many ways to that of higher multicellular animals.
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Abstract
The swim-control systems of hydrozoan and scyphozoan medusae show distinct differences despite similarity in the mechanics of swimming in the two groups. This dichotomy was first demonstrated by G.J. Romanes at the end of the 19th century, yet his results still accurately highlight differences in the neuronal control systems in the two groups. A review of current information on swim-control systems reveals an elaboration of Romanes' dichotomy, but no significant changes to it. The dichotomy is used to suggest that cubomedusae are more closely aligned with the scyphomedusae, and to highlight areas of future research that could be used to look for common, possibly primitive, features of medusan conduction systems.
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Taddei-Ferretti C, Musio C. Photobehaviour of Hydra (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa) and correlated mechanisms: a case of extraocular photosensitivity. JOURNAL OF PHOTOCHEMISTRY AND PHOTOBIOLOGY. B, BIOLOGY 2000; 55:88-101. [PMID: 10942072 DOI: 10.1016/s1011-1344(00)00041-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
The morpho-functional organization correlated to photosensitivity in Cnidaria is that of ocelli and extraocular photoreception. Several examples of the second type of organization are reported. The photosensitivity of the cnidarian Hydra is of the extraocular (neural or dermal) type. The effects of photic stimulation (applied according to various experimental protocols: steady condition; step stimulus; single, twin, or repetitive pulses; different polarities and chromaticities of steady, step and pulse stimulation and different phases of pulse application) on the modulation of various bioelectric events linked to the periodic behaviour of the animal are reviewed. The mechanisms correlated with the photobehaviour of Hydra, as well as the problems still open on the molecular mechanisms of phototransduction, are discussed.
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Santillo S, Taddei‐Ferretti C, Nobile M. Resting potentials recorded in the whole‐cell configuration from epithelial cells ofHydra vulgaris. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1997. [DOI: 10.1080/11250009709356167] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
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Anderson PA, Spencer AN. The importance of cnidarian synapses for neurobiology. JOURNAL OF NEUROBIOLOGY 1989; 20:435-57. [PMID: 2568389 DOI: 10.1002/neu.480200513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Despite being the most primitive organisms to possess a nervous system, cnidarians afford rare opportunities for studying various, general aspects of chemical synaptic transmission. This is made possible by the unique organization of their nervous systems and by the fact that in certain species the neurons and synapses are readily accessible for intracellular recordings and voltage clamp. The results obtained from such studies are summarized here, with particular emphasis on work with two species, Cyanea capillata (Scyphozoa) and Polyorchis pennicilatus (Hydrozoa). The potential of these preparations for providing additional data is also discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- P A Anderson
- Whitney Laboratory, University of Florida, St. Augustine
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Arkett SA, Spencer AN. Neuronal mechanisms of a hydromedusan shadow reflex. J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 1986. [DOI: 10.1007/bf00612303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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