Brodfuehrer Peter D, Tapyrik Lauren, Pietras Nicole, Zekavat Ghazal, Convery Maureen
Department of Biology, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010, USA.
J Comp Physiol A Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol. 2006 Aug;192(8):817-25. doi: 10.1007/s00359-006-0119-4. Epub 2006 Mar 18.
In this study we examined whether the foraging for artificial blood affected the behavioral responsiveness of leeches to electrical stimulation of the body wall. After foraging for artificial blood, electrical stimulation of the posterior end of the leech significantly increased the percentage of stimulation trials that elicited locomotory activity--swimming and crawling--compared to the behaviors elicited when leeches did not forage or foraged for normal saline. On the other hand, shortening always dominated the behavioral profile of the leech to anterior stimulation even after foraging for artificial blood. In intact anterior end-isolated nerve cord preparations, we also found that application of artificial blood to the intact anterior end was sufficient to modify motor responsiveness to DP nerve stimulation. Full strength artificial blood had an overall negative effect on the likelihood of DP nerve stimulation initiating swimming and on the average length of elicited swim episodes compared to when pond water surrounded the anterior end. Application of a 10% solution of artificial blood to the anterior end led to an increase in the likelihood of DP nerve stimulation eliciting swimming.
在本研究中，我们检验了摄取人造血液是否会影响水蛭对体壁电刺激的行为反应。摄取人造血液后，与未摄取或摄取生理盐水时相比，对水蛭后端进行电刺激显著增加了引发运动活动（游泳和爬行）的刺激试验的百分比。另一方面，即使在摄取人造血液后，收缩反应在水蛭对前端刺激的行为表现中始终占主导地位。在完整的前端分离神经索标本中，我们还发现，将人造血液施加到完整的前端足以改变对DP神经刺激的运动反应。与前端被池水包围时相比，全强度人造血液对DP神经刺激引发游泳的可能性以及引发游泳发作的平均时长总体上具有负面影响。将10%的人造血液溶液施加到前端会增加DP神经刺激引发游泳的可能性。
