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Physiology and motor innervation of the supralateral radular retractor muscles of the pulmonate snail,Planorbarius corneus

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Summary

  1. 1.

    Some electrophysiological properties of a multifunctional molluscan muscle, the supralateral radular retractor (SLR), were examined. The resting membrane potential was 62.3±10.5 mV and was dependent upon permeabilities to K+, Na+ and Cl−. Current-voltage relationships for SLR muscle fibres were linear, and the fibres had input resistances of 22.5±5.6 MΩ. Indirect evidence suggested that they were not electrically coupled.

  2. 2.

    Miniature EJPs occurred spontaneously in the muscle. Action potentials in the identified motoneurones elicited monosynaptic, chemical EJPs in muscle fibres. The majority of fibres were polyneuronally innervated by up to four motor axons. Action potentials did not normally occur in the muscle fibres, and contraction was proportional to the degree of depolarization produced by EJPs.

  3. 3.

    Contractions elicited in the SLRs by the stimulation of motoneurones were bilaterally symmetrical, and were temporally and spatially characteristic of the type of neurone excited. Temporal differences in contraction between motor units were determined mainly by differences in initial EJP amplitude. The relatively small degree of facilitation shown by all motor units had little effect on the speed of contraction. A linear summation model adequately described the growth of facilitation at terminals of one type of motoneurone, but not at those of the other two types of motoneurones examined.

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Abbreviations

EDTA :

ethylenediaminotetraacetic acid

EJP :

excitatory junctional potential

L :

lateral motoneurone

M :

medial motoneurone

MEJP :

miniature excitatory junctional potential

P :

phasic motoneurone

R in :

input resistance

SLR :

supralateral radular retractor

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Author notes

  1. J. E. H. Tattersall

    Present address: Biology Division, CDE, Porton Down, SP4 OJQ, Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Nottingham, University Park, NG7 2RD, Nottingham, England

    J. E. H. Tattersall & R. C. Brace

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  1. J. E. H. Tattersall
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  2. R. C. Brace
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Tattersall, J.E.H., Brace, R.C. Physiology and motor innervation of the supralateral radular retractor muscles of the pulmonate snail,Planorbarius corneus . J. Comp. Physiol. 160, 115–125 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00613447

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