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Photo-tropotaxis based on projection through the cerebral commissure in the terrestrial slug Limax

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Abstract

In the terrestrial slug, Limax, eyes are located at the tip of the superior tentacles. This animal has long been believed to show negative phototaxis through tropotaxis, i.e., it compares the two light intensities detected by bilateral eyes to move away from a light source. As one of the possible manifestations of such negative phototaxis, a circling movement has been observed: if one of the superior tentacles is removed, the slugs continuously move in the direction of the removed side. However, there has been no evidence demonstrating that this behavior is actually based on negative phototropotaxis. In this study, we showed that the slugs do not exhibit the circling behavior in the absence of light, and that amputation of the cerebral commissure also diminishes the circling behavior under light. We could detect light-evoked responses during electrical recording from the cut edge of the cerebral commissure. Labeling of the optic nerve with neurobiotin also revealed the presence of the commissural fibers that potentially transmit the light information to the contralateral cerebral ganglion. Our study suggests that the slug’s circling behavior is based on phototropotaxis in which the light intensities detected by the bilateral eyes are compared through the cerebral commissure.

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Abbreviations

ANOVA:

Analysis of variance

BSA:

Bovine serum albumin

CC:

Cerebral commissure

CCD:

Charge-coupled device

ChAT:

Cholineacetyltransferase

DAPI:

4′,6-diamino-2-phenylindole

FMRFamide:

Phe-Met-Arg-Phe-NH2

GABA:

γ-aminobutyric acid

5-HT:

5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin)

PBS:

Phosphate-buffered saline

ST:

Superior tentacle

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Acknowledgments

We thank Suguru Kobayashi for his helpful advice on the electrophysiological experiments, and Takeshi Morita for his help in the measurement of the irradiance of light. This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for KAKENHI from the Japan Society for the promotion of science (No. 25440181 to RM), the Yamada Science Foundation (to RM), and the Naito Foundation (to RM). We minimized the number of animals used, and reduced the pain of the animals by deep anesthesia (with cold Mg2+ buffer) when sacrifice.

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The authors have no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Neurobiology, International College of Arts and Sciences, Fukuoka Women’s University, 1-1-1 Kasumigaoka, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka, 813-8529, Japan

    Yuko Matsuo, Nana Uozumi & Ryota Matsuo

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  1. Yuko Matsuo
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  2. Nana Uozumi
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  3. Ryota Matsuo
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Correspondence to Ryota Matsuo.

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Matsuo, Y., Uozumi, N. & Matsuo, R. Photo-tropotaxis based on projection through the cerebral commissure in the terrestrial slug Limax . J Comp Physiol A 200, 1023–1032 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-014-0954-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-014-0954-7

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