Abstract
THERE is evidence that dopamine acts as a synaptic transmitter in the brain of gastropod molluscs, for example, it is localized in certain cell bodies and in terminal varicosities which are believed to be the areas of synaptic contact1–6. Many cells undergo a permeability change when exposed to low concentrations of dopamine7–11. Certain inhibitory potentials, elicited by stimulation of nerve trunks, appear to be mediated by dopamine by virtue of their response to dopamine antagonists and to drugs affecting dopamine levels in the brain8,9. As yet no effort has been made to impale an identified dopaminergic neurone and to study transmission at synaptic contacts made with other neurones. One reason for this may be that most of the dopamine-containing cells so far found in the molluscan brain have been small and unsuitable for electrophysiological studies. A very large dopamine-containing cell, however, has recently been discovered in the left pedal ganglion of Planorbis corneus by Marsden and Kerkut4, and we describe experiments to locate it, to impale it with a microelectrode, and to analyse post-synaptic responses in any follower cells.
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References
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BERRY, M., COTTRELL, G. Dopamine: Excitatory and Inhibitory Transmission from a Giant Dopamine Neurone. Nature New Biology 242, 250–253 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio242250a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio242250a0
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