The ontogeny of GABA- and glutamate-like immunoreactivity in the embryonic Australian freshwater crayfish, Cherax destructor

Immunolocalization of Neurotransmitters and Neuromodulators in the Developing Crayfish Brain

In the field of neurosciences, the crayfish nervous system is an important model for understanding how arthropods process sensory stimuli and generate specific behaviors. Furthermore, crayfish embryos have been important study objects for well over 200 years. Immunohistochemistry against neurotransmitters, neuromodulators, and neurohormones is widely used to analyze the ontogeny of neurons in the emerging brain of several crustacean species and to date represents one of the most powerful approaches to analyze aspects of brain development in this group of organisms. In recent years, the analysis of brain development in crustaceans has gained new momentum by the establishment of the Marmorkrebs Procambarus virginalis (Marbled Crayfish), a parthenogenetic crayfish, as new model system. The embryonic development of marbled crayfish is well characterized and these animals can be easily cultivated in the lab. This chapter describes protocols for immunolocalization of neuroactive substances in the developing crayfish brain.

An atlas of larval organogenesis in the European shore crab Carcinus maenas L. (Decapoda, Brachyura, Portunidae)

BACKGROUND

The life history stages of brachyuran crustaceans include pelagic larvae of the Zoea type which grow by a series of moults from one instar to the next. Zoeae actively feed and possess a wide range of organ systems necessary for autonomously developing in the plankton. They also display a rich behavioural repertoire that allows for responses to variations in environmental key factors such as light, hydrostatic pressure, tidal currents, and temperature. Brachyuran larvae have served as distinguished models in the field of Ecological Developmental Biology fostering our understanding of diverse ecophysiological aspects such as phenotypic plasticity, carry-over effects on life-history traits, and adaptive mechanisms that enhance tolerance to fluctuations in environmental abiotic factors. In order to link such studies to the level of tissues and organs, this report analyses the internal anatomy of laboratory-reared larvae of the European shore crab Carcinus maenas. This species has a native distribution extending across most European waters and has attracted attention because it has invaded five temperate geographic regions outside of its native range and therefore can serve as a model to analyse thermal tolerance of species affected by rising sea temperatures as an effect of climate change.

RESULTS

Here, we used X-ray micro-computed tomography combined with 3D reconstruction to describe organogenesis in brachyuran larvae. We provide a detailed atlas of the larval internal organization to complement existing descriptions of its external morphology. In a multimethodological approach, we also used cuticular autofluorescence and classical histology to analyse the anatomy of selected organ systems.

CONCLUSIONS

Much of our fascination for the anatomy of brachyuran larvae stems from the opportunity to observe a complex organism on a single microscopic slide and the realization that the entire decapod crustacean bauplan unfolds from organ anlagen compressed into a miniature organism in the sub-millimetre range. The combination of imaging techniques used in the present study provides novel insights into the bewildering diversity of organ systems that brachyuran larvae possess. Our analysis may serve as a basis for future studies bridging the fields of evolutionary developmental biology and ecological developmental biology.

A developmental study of serotonin-immunoreactive neurons in the embryonic brain of the marbled crayfish and the migratory locust: evidence for a homologous protocerebral group of neurons

It is well established that the brains of adult malacostracan crustaceans and winged insects display distinct homologies down to the level of single neuropils such as the central complex and the optic neuropils. We wanted to know if developing insect and crustacean brains also share similarities and therefore have explored how neurotransmitter systems arise during arthropod embryogenesis. Previously, Sintoni et al. (2007) had already reported a homology of an individually identified cluster of neurons in the embryonic crayfish and insect brain, the secondary head spot cells that express the Engrailed protein. In the present study, we have documented the ontogeny of the serotonergic system in embryonic brains of the Marbled Crayfish in comparison to Migratory Locust embryos using immunohistochemical methods combined with confocal laser-scan microscopy. In both species, we found a cluster of early emerging serotonin-immunoreactive neurons in the protocerebrum with neurites that cross to the contralateral brain hemisphere in a characteristic commissure suggesting a homology of this cell cluster. Our study is a first step towards a phylogenetic analysis of neurotransmitter system development and shows that, as for the ventral nerve cord, traits related to neurogenesis in the brain can provide valuable hints for resolving the much debated question of arthropod phylogeny.

Phenotype plasticity in postural muscles of the crayfish Orconectes limosus Raf.: correlation of myofibrillar ATPase-based fiber typing with electrophysiological fiber properties and the effect of chronic nerve stimulation

The characteristics of the medial and lateral superficial extensor muscles (sem and sel) in the crayfish Orconectes limosus abdomen and their developmental and activity-dependent plasticity were studied. It was shown that both muscles are innervated by at least five excitatory and one inhibitory motor neuron in a nonuniform pattern. The muscles are composed of at least three different mATPase histochemistry-based fiber types that are all different from a fourth type in the uniform deep extensor muscles. sem and sel are composed of different ratios of these fiber types but do not show a constant fiber type pattern between segments and even between hemisegments. The three histochemically defined superficial extensor-fiber types have characteristic electrophysiological properties. The fiber types were shown to develop successively during the first postembryonic stages of development without a change in the number of muscle fibers. Based on histochemical ATPase staining after 21 days of chronic stimulation by means of an implantable, double-hook electrode, we show preliminary evidence that the fiber composition in the sem can switch from the presumably fast fiber type III to an intermediate type II. Repeated axotomy up to 53 days had no effect on the fiber type composition of the muscles.

Effect of juvenile hormone and serotonin (5-HT) on mixis induction of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis Muller

Juvenile hormone (JH) and serotonin (5-HT) were previously shown to enhance mictic (sexual) female production of the rotifer Brachionus plicatilis in batch cultures. To explore the basis of these effects, experiments were conducted on isolated individuals. JH treatment of maternal rotifers with 5 and 50 µgml(-1) (18.8 and 187.7 µM) resulted in significantly higher (P<0.05) mictic female production in the second (F(2)) and third (F(3)) generations. JH treatment was effective even at a lower food concentration of 7x10(5) cellsml(-1), but it was not effective when free ammonia was added at 2.4 and 3.1 µgml(-1). Mictic female production was not increased with exposure to 5-HT up to 50 µgml(-1) (129.1 µM) concentrations. When food level was reduced to 7x10(5) cellsml(-1), however, 5-HT-treated rotifers produced significantly (P<0.05) more mictic females than the control, particularly in F(3) generation. Mictic female production of 5-HT-treated rotifers did not differ from that of the control with or without free ammonia, but the intrinsic rate of natural increase (r) of 5-HT-treated rotifers at 3.1 µgml(-1) free ammonia was significantly higher than the control. These results show that juvenile hormone increases mictic female production under optimum and sub-optimum food levels, whereas 5-HT increases both mictic female production at low food level and population growth rate at high free ammonia concentrations. These compounds could be used to manage rotifer cultures and probe the mechanisms controlling the rotifer life cycle as it switches to mictic reproduction.