Neuropeptide-mediated temporal sensory filtering in a primordial nervous system.

ABSTRACT: Sensory filtering - prioritizing relevant stimuli while ignoring irrelevant ones - is crucial for animals to adapt and survive in complex environments. While this phenomenon has been primarily studied in organisms with complex nervous systems, it remains unclear whether simpler organisms also possess such capabilities. Here, we studied temporal information processing in Schmidtea mediterranea, a freshwater planarian flatworm with a primitive nervous system. Using long-term behavioral imaging and oscillatory ultraviolet (UV) light stimulations with rhythms matching the timescale of the animal's short-term memory (~minutes), we observed that planarians initially ignored rhythmic oscillations in UV intensity but eventually began tracking them after several cycles, demonstrating sensory

SUBMITTER: Wyss LS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11702643 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature