Neuropeptidergic integration of behavior in Trichoplax adhaerens, an animal without synapses.

ABSTRACT: Trichoplax adhaerens is a flat, millimeter-sized marine animal that adheres to surfaces and grazes on algae. Trichoplax displays a repertoire of different feeding behaviors despite the apparent absence of a true nervous system with electrical or chemical synapses. It glides along surfaces to find food, propelled by beating cilia on cells at its ventral surface, and pauses during feeding by arresting ciliary beating. We found that when endomorphin-like peptides are applied to an animal, ciliary beating is arrested, mimicking natural feeding pauses. Antibodies against these neuropeptides label cells that express the neurosecretory proteins and voltage-gated calcium channels implicated in regulated secretion. These cells are embedded in the ventral epithelium, where they compris

SUBMITTER: Senatore A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5612019 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature