Ontogeny of Electroreceptors and Their Neural Circuitry

  • R. Glenn Northcutt
Chapter
Part of the Springer Handbook of Auditory Research book series (SHAR, volume 21)

4. Summary

Ontogenetic studies provide a key to understanding the organization of different classes of sensory receptors, their distribution on the body, and their innervation. This is particularly true for the lateral line system of fishes and amphibians, as one class of sensory receptors, electroreceptors, was lost and then regained at a later time in two groups of teleost fishes. There are extensive descriptive and experimental studies documenting that primitive electroreceptors, that is, nonteleost ampullary organs, arise from lateral line placodes that generate one or more lines of neuromasts and the lateral line nerve that innervates these receptors. Ampullary organ and neuromast primordia arise from lateral and central zones, respectively, of sensory ridges, which form by the elongation of the lateral line placodes. In contrast to primitive electroreceptors, the embryonic origin of the reevolved ampullary organs and the newly evolved tuberous electroreceptors in teleosts is uncertain. It has been claimed that ampullary organs in catfishes develop from lateral line placodes, whereas ampullary and tuberous organs in gymnotids are claimed to develop from general ectoderm. Clearly, experimental studies are needed to resolve these different interpretations.

Almost nothing is known regarding the genetic basis for the induction and morphogenesis of either primitive or derived (teleost) electroreceptors. Similarly, there are no existing descriptions of the development of the central electroreceptive centers in taxa with primitive electroreceptors, and very little is known regarding the development of these centers and pathways in electroreceptive teleosts.

Keywords

Lateral Line Embryonic Origin Lateral Line System Electrosensory Lateral Line Lobe Posterior Lateral Line 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005

Authors and Affiliations

  • R. Glenn Northcutt
    • 1
  1. 1.Neurobiology Unit, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Department of Neurosciences, School of MedicineUniversity of CaliforniaSan Diego, La JollaUSA

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