Electrophysiology of the rhythmic defecation program in nematode Heterorhabditis megidis.

ABSTRACT: The nervous system controls most rhythmic behaviors, with a remarkable exception. In Caenorhabditis elegans periodic defecation rhythm does not appear to involve the nervous system. Such oscillations are studied in detail with genetic and molecular biology tools. The small size of C. elegans cells impairs the use of standard electrophysiological methods. We studied a similar rhythmic pacemaker in the noticeably larger gut cells of Heterorhabditis megidis nematode. H. megidis defecation cycle is driven by a central pattern generator (CPG) associated with unusual all-or-none hyper-polarization "action potential". The CPG cycle period depends on the membrane potential and CPG cycling also persisted in experiments where the membrane potential of gut cells was continuously clamped at steady vol

SUBMITTER: Kuznetsov VP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5736584 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature