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Receptor organization and function in Limulus chelae

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Summary

  1. 1.

    The opposed grasping surfaces of the digits of the chela of the Limulus walking leg have ridge-like pads of pliable cuticle. Receptors are present both on these pads and elsewhere on the surface of the chelae.

  2. 2.

    Mechanoreceptors at the pad are rapidly adapting (Type 1) or slowly adapting (Type 2) (Fig. 1). Both types have thresholds of between 3 and 40 g and receptive fields of 1.2–2.5 mm along the pad (Fig. 3). Response frequency of Type 1 units increases with increasing rate of force change, while the number of spikes increases with increasing force magnitude (Fig. 4, 5). Response frequency and response duration of Type 2 units increase with increasing amplitude of force, but with some movement sensitivity (Fig. 7). Evidence is presented that the receptors involved are the large multipolar cells under the pad and that they have large rapidly conducting axons representing the fast sensory component of the large leg nerve.

  3. 3.

    Chemoreceptor units respond to clam or fish extracts or to glycine, glutamic acid, betaine, or trimethylamine oxide (Fig. 11). Most are tonic, but some units adapt completely within a few seconds, even to constant-flow stimulation. The tonic chemoreceptors are located at the small channel sensilla of the pad and perhaps also of the sides. Their axons are probably the smallest and slowest in the leg nerve.

  4. 4.

    The behavioral response to chemical stimulation of the chelae of intact animals is opening of the stimulated chela (Fig. 12).

  5. 5.

    Other sensory units give phasic or tonic responses to warm or cold sea water, or tonic responses to distilled water and to dilute sea water. The units are inferred to have axons intermediate in size between mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors, the size decreasing in the order listed.

  6. 6.

    A proprioceptive organ of the tibiotarsal joint contains units responding to closing movement and units responding to closed position. It lacks units responding to opening or to open position.

  7. 7.

    The variety of claw receptors and the large number of sensory cells (300 000–400 000 estimated per claw or 3–4 million total) indicate that the claw sensory apparatus represents a major sensory input into the central nervous system of Limulus. An estimated total of nearly 4 million chemoreceptors (3 million from claws, 1 million from gnathobases) may relate to the very large and well developed corpora pedunculata of the Limulus brain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Gordon A. Wyse

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  1. Gordon A. Wyse
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I am deeply indebted to Dr. Donald M. Maynard for his advice and encouragement. I wish to thank Drs. David R. Bentley, Michael S. Laverack, Gernot Wendler, and Richard Norman for helpful discussion and suggestions.

This work is based on part of a dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Michigan. The work was carried out under tenure of a Cooperative Graduate Fellowship and a Graduate Fellowship from the National Science Foundation. Much of the equipment used was made available by the National Institutes of Health Graduate Training Grant No. 5 TI GM 989 and by a grant from the Graduate Student Research Fund of The University of Michigan.

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Wyse, G.A. Receptor organization and function in Limulus chelae. Z. Vergl. Physiol. 73, 249–273 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00297675

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