The Behaviour of Nerve Cells

Eccles, John C.

doi:10.1002/9780470719091.ch3

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…In the middle of last century, the explosion of electrophysiological studies both on vertebrate and invertebrate nerves and neurons, primed by the discovery of the action potential by Hodgkin and Huxley (1939), was rewarded by two Nobel prizes assigned in 1963 to Eccles, Hodgkin and Huxley for the theory of electrical signalling in excitable structures (Eccles, 1957), and in 1970 to Katz, von Euler and Axelrod for the discovery of quantal neurotransmitter release at the synapses (Katz, 1971). These new facts and theories renewed the interest for the functional properties of cnidarian neurons and nerves.…”

Section: The 'Elementary' Nervous Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordinated modulation of cellular signaling through ligand-gated ion channels in Hydra vulgaris (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa)

Pierobon

2012

Int. J. Dev. Biol.

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Cnidarians lack well developed organs, but they have evolved the molecular and cellular components needed to assemble a nervous system. The apparent 'simplicity' of the cnidarian nervous net does not occur at the cellular level, but rather in the organisation of conducting systems. Cnidarian neurons are in fact electrically excitable, show the typical extended morphology and are connected by chemical synapses or gap junctions. They have been regarded as peptidergic, given the wealth of neuropeptides generally distributed along neurites and in cell bodies, supporting the hypothesis of a modulatory role in neurotransmission. However, the presence of clear-cored, as well as dense-cored synaptic vesicles in cnidarian neurons suggests both fast and slow synaptic transmission mechanisms. In fact, biochemical and functional evidence indicates that classical neurotransmitters and their metabolic partners are present in cnidarian tissues, where they are involved in coordinating motility and behavior. We have identified and characterized in Hydra tissues receptors to the inhibitory and excitatory amino acid neurotransmitters, GABA, glycine and NMDA, that are similar to mammalian ionotropic receptors in terms of their biochemical and pharmacological properties. These receptors appear to regulate pacemaker activities and their physiological correlates; in the live animal, they also affect feeding behavior, namely the duration and termination of the response elicited by reduced glutathione, with opposite actions of GABA and glycine or NMDA, respectively. These results suggest that modulation of cellular signaling through ligand-gated-ion channels is an ancient characteristic in the animal kingdom, and that the pharmacological properties of these receptors have been highly conserved during evolution.

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Section: The 'Elementary' Nervous Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coordinated modulation of cellular signaling through ligand-gated ion channels in Hydra vulgaris (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa)

Pierobon

2012

Int. J. Dev. Biol.

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“…Motoneurons may discharge in a linear fashion, with firing frequency proportional to the sum of their inputs (11,19,30,45). However, there is growing evidence that mammalian motoneurons exhibit nonlinearities in summation of descending and reflex inputs regulating their firing pattern.…”

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confidence: 99%

High-frequency submaximal stimulation over muscle evokes centrally generated forces in human upper limb skeletal muscles

Blouin

Walsh²,

Nickolls³

et al. 2009

Journal of Applied Physiology

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“…On the other hand, neither individual nor simultaneous stimulation of the GPN-ph and SLN at 20 -50 Hz led to significant changes in the onset latency of reflex swallowing. It has been reported that an increase in the spike frequency in primary afferent fibers causes a strong increase in postsynaptic potentials in spinal cord motoneurons (22,23). The enhancement of postsynaptic potentials in spinal cord motoneurons is thought to be a result of spatiotemporal summation of primary afferent activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%