Journal of Comparative Physiology A

, Volume 193, Issue 1, pp 1–11 | Cite as

GABA and glutamate specifically induce contractions in the sponge Tethya wilhelma

Original Paper
First Online:
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:

Abstract

Sponges (Porifera) are nerve- and muscleless. Nevertheless, they react to external stimuli in a coordinated way, by body contraction, oscule closure or stopping pumping activity. The underlying mechanisms are still unknown, but evidence has been found for chemical messenger-based systems. We used the sponge Tethya wilhelma to test the effect of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate (l-Glu) on its contraction behaviour. Minimal activating concentrations were found to be 0.5 μM (GABA) and 50 μM (l-Glu), respectively. Taking maximum relative contraction speed and minimal relative projected body area as a measure of the sponge’s response, a comparison of the dose–response curves indicated a higher sensitivity of the contractile tissue for GABA than for l-Glu. The concentrations eliciting the same contractile response differ by about 100-fold more than the entire concentration range tested. In addition, desensitising effects and spasm-like reactions were observed. Presumably, a GABA/l-Glu metabotropic receptor-based system is involved in the regulation of contraction in T. wilhelma. We discuss a coordination system for sponges based on hypothetical chemical messenger pathways.

Keywords

Tethya wilhelma (Porifera) Induced contraction Coordination γ-Aminobutyric acid l-Glutamate 

Abbreviations

ANOVA

Analysis of variance

Ar max

Maximum relative projected area

Ar min

Minimal relative projected area

Ar

Relative projected area

ΔAr

Change of relative projected area

cs

Substance concentration

GABA

γ-Aminobutyric acid

GABAAR, GABACR

Ionotropic GABA receptors

GABABR

Metabotropic GABA receptor

iGluR

Ionotropic l-Glu receptors

l-Glu

l-Glutamic acid

LSD

Least significant difference

mGluR

Metabotropic l-Glu receptor

PC

Contracted phase

PE

Expanded phase

v

Contraction speed

vCmax

Maximum relative contraction speed

vEmax

Maximum relative speed of expansion

vimax

Maximum induced relative contraction speed

ΔpH

pH-shift

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Notes

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Hans-Dieter Görtz and Franz Brümmer for their support of our research, Isabel Koch and Kai-Uwe Genzel for providing and maintaining sponges in the zoological Garden Wilhelma, Wolfgang Hauber for discussion on experimental design, Birgit Nickel and Markus Götz for discussion of results, Isabel Heim and Carsten Wolf for technical assistance with the aquarium. Our work was partly supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the project Center of Excellence BIOTECmarin (F 0345D), by the Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts of the State of Baden-Württemberg and the University of Stuttgart. The experiments conducted herein comply with the current laws of Germany where they were performed.

Supplementary material

359_2006_165_MOESM1_ESM.mov (2 mb)
Supplementary material

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag 2006

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kornelia Ellwanger
    • 1
  • Andre Eich
    • 1
  • Michael Nickel
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Zoology, Biological InstituteUniversity of StuttgartStuttgartGermany

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