Serotonergic modulation of swimming speed in the pteropod mollusc Clione limacina. I. Serotonin immunoreactivity in the central nervous system and wings.

Serotonin-immunoreactive somata in the pteropod mollusc Clione limacina were restricted to the cerebral and pedal ganglia. 10-14 pairs of cells were consistently found in the cerebral ganglia, including one large pair that had soma positions and axon branching patterns reminiscent of those of the metacerebral cells of other molluscs. Two clusters of somata were found on the midline near the cerebral commissure, one on the anterior-lateral margin and one posterior-laterally. A distinct paired cluster of up to nine somata was found on the dorso-lateral margin of the pedal ganglia, near the emergence of the pedal commissure. Up to five of these cells innervated the ipsilateral wing via the wing nerve. Dye-fills of these cells showed that they branch repeatedly in the ipsilateral wing and innervate the swim musculature. Double-labelling experiments indicated that the filled neurons were also serotonin-immunoreactive. Neurobiotin fills that were processed for electron microscopy revealed two types of terminals associated with the swim musculature: direct contacts and reactive terminals adjacent to non-labelled presynaptic terminals. Additional immunoreactive neurons in the pedal ganglia included the asymmetrical heart excitor neuron of the left pedal ganglion and up to nine ventral somata.