Abstract
The planula larva of the hydroid Clava multicornis (Forskål, 1775) has a complex nervous system, characterized by the presence of distinct, anteriorly concentrated peptidergic populations of amidated neurons, presumably involved in the detection of environmental stimuli and metamorphic signals. Differently from other hydrozoan larvae in C. multicornis planulae GLW-positive cells with putative sensory role have a peculiar dome-shaped forefront organization, followed by a belt of RF-positive nerve cells. By immunohistochemistry, we investigated the transformation of the peptidergic (GLW-amide and RF-amide) larval neuroanatomy at different stages of metamorphosis and the subsequent development of the primary polyp nervous system. By terminal transferase-mediated dUTP nick end-labeling assay, apoptotic nuclei were first identified in the anterior pole of the settled larva, in the same region occupied by GLW-amide positive putative sensory cells. In primary polyps, GLW-amide positive signals first encircled the hypostome area, later extending downwards along the polyp column or upwards over the hypostome dome, whereas RF-amide positive sensory cells initially appeared at the tentacles base to later extend in the tentacles and the polyp column. In spite of the possession of distinct neuroanatomies, different cnidarian planulae may share common developmental mechanisms underlying metamorphosis, including apoptosis and de novo differentiation. Our data confirm the hypothesis that the developmental dynamics of tissue rearrangements may be not uniform across different taxa.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by PRIN Italian Ministry for research and education (grant number 2007-5WCPWM) and by the ASSEMBLE project (remote access Station Biologique de Roscoff, and on-site access at the Sven Lovén Centre for Marine Sciences, Kristineberg). The publication of this paper has been also supported by CONISMA, the Italian National Inter-University Consortium for Marine Sciences. We thank two anonymous reviewers and Dr Andreas Schmidt-Rhaesa for valuable advices.
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Communicated by A. Schmidt-Rhaesa.
Roberta Pennati and Stefano Piraino equally contributed to this work.
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Pennati, R., Dell’Anna, A., Pagliara, P. et al. Neural system reorganization during metamorphosis in the planula larva of Clava multicornis (Hydrozoa, Cnidaria). Zoomorphology 132, 227–237 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-013-0188-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-013-0188-1