Okada T, MacIsaac S S, Katsuyama Y, Okamura Y, Meinertzhagen I A
Neuroscience Institute, Life Sciences Centre, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Biol Bull. 2001 Jun;200(3):252-6. doi: 10.2307/1543506.
The dorsal tubular central nervous system (CNS) of the ascidian tadpole larva is a diagnostic feature by which the chordate affinities of this group, as a whole, are recognized. We have used two methods to identify larval neurons of Ciona intestinalis. The first is serial electron microscopy (EM), as part of a dedicated study of the visceral ganglion (1), and the second is the transient transfection of neural plate progeny with green fluorescent protein (GFP) (2), to visualize the soma and its neurites of individual neurons in whole-mounted larvae of C. intestinalis. Our observations reveal that ascidian larval neurons are simple inform, with a single axonal neurite arising from a soma that is either monopolar or has only very few, relatively simple neurites arising from it, as part of a presumed dendritic arbor. Somata in the visceral ganglion giving rise to axons descending in the caudal nerve cord are presumed to be those of motor neurons.
海鞘蝌蚪幼虫的背侧管状中枢神经系统（CNS）是一个诊断特征，通过它可以整体识别该类群与脊索动物的亲缘关系。我们使用了两种方法来识别玻璃海鞘的幼虫神经元。第一种是连续电子显微镜（EM），这是对内脏神经节进行专门研究的一部分（1），第二种是用绿色荧光蛋白（GFP）对神经板后代进行瞬时转染（2），以观察玻璃海鞘完整幼虫中单个神经元的胞体及其神经突。我们的观察结果表明，海鞘幼虫神经元形态简单，单个轴突神经突从胞体发出，胞体要么是单极的，要么只有很少的、相对简单的神经突从其发出，作为假定树突分支的一部分。在内脏神经节中产生轴突并在尾神经索中下行的胞体被认为是运动神经元的胞体。
