Electrical stimulation of the starfish's radial nerve in vitro induces the release of a gonadotrophin.

In starfish a neuropeptide responsible for the induction of ovulation and the reinitiation of meiotic maturation in fully grown oocytes appears to be released from the radial nerves at the time of spawning. The objectives of this investigation were to determine if the radial nerve would release this gonadotrophin when electrically stimulated in vitro and to locate other possible sources of this factor. Electrical stimulation of radial nerves isolated from the starfish, Pycnopodia helianthoides, resulted in the release of the gonadotrophin. Significant amounts of this neuropeptide were detected neither in other tissues of the starfish nor in mammalian nervous tissue.