Albertson D G, Thomson J N
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1976 Aug 10;275(938):299-325. doi: 10.1098/rstb.1976.0085.
The anatomy of the pharynx of Caenorhabditis elegans has been reconstructed from electron micrographs of serial sections. The pharynx is used for pumping food into the gut, and is composed of 34 muscle cells, 9 marginal cells, 9 epithelial cells, 5 gland cells and 20 neurones. Three regions of specialization in the cuticle lining of the pharyngeal lumen may aid in the accumulation of food particles. A basement membrane isolates the pharynx from the rest of the animal, making the pharyngeal nervous system a nearly self-contained unit which is composed primarily of five classes of motor neurones and six classes of interneurones. Three other classes have also been described, which by their morphology appear to be neurosecretory and motor, motor and interneuronal, and lastly one pair that only innervates three of the marginal cells. Some classes of neurone have free endings just under the cuticle lining the lumen of the pharynx, suggesting that these are mechano- or proprio-receptive endings. The connectivity of these neurones has been described at the level of individual synaptic regions, and after combining this information with video taped observations of the pharynx pumping, some interpretations of how these neurones function have been offered.
秀丽隐杆线虫咽的解剖结构已根据连续切片的电子显微照片重建。咽用于将食物泵入肠道，由34个肌肉细胞、9个边缘细胞、9个上皮细胞、5个腺细胞和20个神经元组成。咽腔角质层衬里的三个特化区域可能有助于食物颗粒的积累。基膜将咽与动物的其他部分隔离开来，使咽神经系统成为一个几乎独立的单元，主要由五类运动神经元和六类中间神经元组成。还描述了其他三类神经元，从形态上看，它们似乎分别是神经分泌和运动型、运动和中间神经元型，最后还有一对仅支配三个边缘细胞的神经元。某些类别的神经元在咽腔角质层衬里下方有游离末梢，这表明这些是机械或本体感受末梢。这些神经元的连接性已在单个突触区域的层面上进行了描述，并且在将这些信息与咽泵动的录像观察结果相结合之后，对这些神经元的功能运作方式提出了一些解释。
