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Central neuronal control of cilia in Tritonia diamedia

Abstract

CONSIDERABLE evidence indicates that the beating of cilia of a wide variety of animals is under neural control1, but no recordings have yet been made of the central neurones which actually control or influence ciliary beating. Several invertebrates of several phyla locomote by means of ciliary beating2,3; among these are included members of several families of gastropods4–7. The pedal cilia of these gastropods must be under central nervous control, but apart from some early experiments demonstrating that central control does exist4,5 it has received little attention8. I report here that the nudibranch mollusc Tritonia diomedia locomotes by pedal ciliary action, and that re-identifiable ‘cilia motor neurones’ in the central nervous system stimulate the beating of the pedal cilia.

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AUDESIRK, G. Central neuronal control of cilia in Tritonia diamedia. Nature 272, 541–543 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/272541a0

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