Some effects of proctolin on the cardiac ganglion of the Maine Lobster, Homarus americanus (Milne Edwards) |
| |
Authors: | M W Miller R E Sullivan |
| |
Abstract: | The neuropeptide proctolin has excitatory effects on the isolated lobster cardiac ganglion. Selective application to the anterior cell body region produces a dose-dependent (10(-8)--10(-5) M) prolonged depolarization of large anterior cells as well as marked increases in burst frequency and/or duration. In ganglia which have been silenced with tetrodotoxin, proctolin application to anterior cells elicits long-lasting depolarizing responses which are accompanied by a 10-30% increase of the apparent membrane input resistance. Higher proctolin concentrations produce high-frequency trains of driver potentials. It is proposed that a proctolin like peptide may serve a neurohumoral role in the lobster cardiac ganglion and that the anterior motor neurons exhibit endogenous rhythmicity in its presence. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|