Dear George and Shogo,
This is Take Kusakabe at Himeji Institute of Technology. I am studying
development and function of nervous systems of ascidians. Tsuda group
recently published two papers reporting a possible link between
photosensitivity and cerebral ganglion of adult ascidians.
Ohkuma, M. and Tsuda, M (2000) Visualization of retinal proteins in the
cerebral ganglion of ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi. Zoological Science 17,
161-170.
Ohkuma, M., Katagiri, Y., Nakagawa, M. and Tsuda, M. (2000) Possible
involvement of light regulated gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons in
biological clock for reproduction in the cerebral ganglion of the ascidian,
Halocynthia roretzi. Neuroscience Letters 293, 5-8.
The second paper reported extracellular recordings of light-evoked
responses from the ganglion. They described two types of responses, a
light-evoked slow potential and light inhibition of high frequency
spontaneous discharges. In these papers they used Halocynthia roretzi.
There may be some differences in Ciona. In fact, according to Tsuda and
other groups, distribution of GnRH-immunoreactive cells in (or around) the
cerebral ganglion is quite different between Halocynthia roretzi and Ciona
intestinalis.
Best regards,
Take
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Takehiro Kusakabe, Ph.D.
Department of Life Science
Himeji Institute of Technology
Harima Science Garden City
Kamigori-chou, Ako-gun, Hyogo 678-1297
JAPAN
Phone +81-791-58-0195; fax +81-791-58-0197
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