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Abstract: N eoturris breviconis (Anthomedusae) has a nerve plexus in the walls of its endodermal canals. The plexus is distinct from the ectodermal nerve plexuses supplying the radial and circular muscles in the ectoderm and no connections have been observed between them. Stimulation of the endodermal plexus evokes electrical events recorded extracellularly as “E” potentials. These propagate through all areas where the plexus has been shown by immunohistology to exist and nowhere else. When Neoturris is ingesting food, trains of “E” potentials propagate down the radial canals to the margin and cause inhibition of swimming. This response is distinct from the inhibition of swimming associated with contractions of the radial muscles but both may play a part in feeding and involve chemoreceptors. Preliminary observations suggest that the “E” system occurs in other medusae including Aglantha digitale (Trachymedusae) where the conduction pathway was previously thought to be an excitable epithelium.

Although neural tissues in cnidarian hydroids have a nerve net structure, some cnidarian medusae contain well-defined nerve tracts. As an example, the hydrozoan medusa Aglantha digitale has neural feeding circuits that show an alignment and condensation, which is absent in its relatives Aequorea victoria and Clytia hemisphaerica. In some cases, neural condensations take the form of fast propagating giant axons concerned with escape or evasion. Such giant axons appear to have developed from the fusion of many, much finer units. Ribosomal DNA analysis has identified the lineage leading to giant axon-based escape swimming in Aglantha and other members of the Aglaura clade of trachymedusan jellyfish. The Aglaura, along with sister subclades that include species such as Colobonema sericeum, have the distinctive ability to perform dual swimming, i.e. to swim at either high or low speeds. However, the form of dual swimming exhibited by Colobonema differs both biomechanically and physiologically from that in Aglantha and is not giant axon based. Comparisons between the genomes of such closely related species might provide a means to determine the molecular basis of giant axon formation and other neural condensations. The molecular mechanism responsible may involve ‘fusogens’, small molecules possibly derived from viruses, which draw membranes together prior to fusion. Identifying these fusogen-based mechanisms using genome analysis may be hindered by the many changes in anatomy and physiology that followed giant axon evolution, but the genomic signal-to-noise ratio may be improved by examining the convergent evolution of giant axons in other hydrozoa, such as the subclass Siphonophora.

Inner hair cells of the mammalian cochlea translate acoustic stimuli into ‘phase‐locked’ nerve impulses with frequencies of up to at least 1 kHz. Little is known about the intracellular Ca2+signal that links transduction to the release of neurotransmitter at the afferent synapse. Here, we use confocal microscopy to provide evidence that Ca2+‐induced Ca2+release (CICR) may contribute to the mechanism. Line scan images (2 ms repetition rate) of neonatal mouse inner hair cells filled with the fluorescent indicator FLUO‐3, revealed a transient increase in intracellular Ca2+concentration ([Ca2+]i) during brief (5–50 ms) depolarizing commands under voltage clamp. The amplitude of the [Ca2+]itransient depended upon the Ca2+concentration in the bathing medium in the range 0–1.3 mm. [Ca2+]itransients were confined to a region near the plasma membrane at the base of the cell in the vicinity of the afferent synapses. The change in [Ca2+]iappeared uniform throughout the entire basal sub‐membrane space and we were unable to observe hotspots of activity. Both the amplitude and the rate of rise of the [Ca2+]itransient was reduced by external ryanodine (20 μm), an agent that blocks Ca2+release from the endoplasmic reticulum. Intracellular Cs+, commonly used to record at presynaptic sites, produced a similar effect. We conclude that both ryanodine and intracellular Cs+block CICR in inner hair cells. We discuss the contribution of CICR to the measured [Ca2+]itransient, the implications for synaptic transmission at the afferent synapse and the significance of its sensitivity to intracellular Cs+.

The ionic dependence of action potentials evoked in giant smooth muscle fibres isolated by enzymatic digestion from the body wall of the marine invertebrate Beroe ovata (Ctenophora) has been investigated using conventional electrophysiological techniques. Differences were observed in the two fibre types studied. The resting membrane potential was –60 ± 1·35 mV (N = 25) in longitudinal muscle fibres and –66 ± 1·37 mV (N =32) in radial fibres. Action potentials had a short plateau in longitudinal fibres but not in radial fibres. The action potential overshoot of both fibre types was decreased in Ca2+-free artificial sea water (ASW). In Na+-deficient ASW, action potentials could not be generated in radial fibres and showed a reduced overshoot in longitudinal fibres. Tetrodotoxin (10−smoll−1) added to ASW or Ca2+-free ASW did not affect the action potentials of either type of fibre. Action potentials of both fibres were partially blocked by Co2+ (20-50 mmol 1−1) or Cd2+ (1-2 mmol 1−1). Action potentials of longitudinal fibres in Na+-deficient ASW were abolished by Co2+ (20 mmol 1−1). In Ca2+-free ASW, the action potential overshoots of both sets of fibres were restored following the addition of Sr2+ or Ba2+. In longitudinal fibres, Sr2+ increased the duration of the action potential plateau. In both longitudinal and radial muscle fibres, Ba2+ prolonged the action potential. In longitudinal fibres exposed to tetraethylammonium chloride (TEACI) or 4-aminopyridine (4AP), the action potential was slightly prolonged. In these fibres, TEA+ or 4AP added to Ca2+-free ASW induced only a long-lasting depolarizing plateau. In radial fibres, the action potential duration was slightly increased in the presence of TEA+; it was unaffected by 4AP. In Ca2+-free ASW, TEA+ and 4AP induced an oscillating membrane response which appeared to be dependent on the intensity of the injected current pulse. It is concluded that (a) there are significant differences between the action potentials of longitudinal and radial muscle fibres but that both are dependent on Na+ and Ca2+, (b) in longitudinal fibres, a Ca2+-activated K+ conductance and a TEA+-sensitive voltage-activated K+ conductance contribute to the repolarizing phase of the action potential, the former being predominant, (c) in radial fibres, the repolarizing phase of action potentials probably involves different membrane K+ conductances among which is a TEA+-sensitive K+ conductance.

In voltage clamped photoreceptor cells of the barnacle, light-induced membrane current varied nonlinearly with membrane potential and changed sign at about + 27 millivolts (reversal potential) independently of light intensity. Instantaneous current-voltage relations were linear and intersected the voltage axis at the reversal potential. Illumination increased membrane conductance that was dependent on membrane potential, light intensity, and time.

Although the bell-shaped nectophores of the siphonophore Nanomia bijugaare clearly specialized for locomotion, their complex neuroanatomy described here testifies to multiple subsidiary functions. These include secretion, by the extensively innervated ‘flask cells' located around the bell margin, and protection, by the numerous nematocytes that line the nectophore's exposed ridges. The main nerve complex consists of a nerve ring at the base of the bell, an adjacent column-shaped matrix plus two associated nerve projections. At the top of the nectophore the upper nerve tract appears to have a sensory role; on the lower surface a second nerve tract provides a motor input connecting the nectophore with the rest of the colony via a cluster of nerve cells at the stem. N. bijugais capable of both forward and backward jet-propelled swimming. During backwards swimming the water jet is redirected by the contraction of the Claus' muscle system, part of the muscular velum that fringes the bell aperture. Contractions can be elicited by electrical stimulation of the nectophore surface, even when both upper and lower nerve tracts have been destroyed. Epithelial impulses elicited there, generate slow potentials and action potentials in the velum musculature. Slow potentials arise at different sites around the bell margin and give rise to action potentials in contracting Claus’ muscle fibres. A synaptic rather than an electrotonic model more readily accounts for the time course of the slow potentials. During backward swimming, isometrically contracting muscle fibres in the endoderm provide the Claus' fibres with an immobile base.