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Journal of Experimental Biology 143,115-132 (1989)
Published by Company of Biologists 1989

PROPERTIES OF A SET OF INTERNAL RECEPTORS IN THE MEDICINAL LEECH: THE NEPHRIDIAL NERVE CELLS MONITOR EXTRACELLULAR CHLORIDE CONCENTRATION

ANGELA WENNING ¹

¹ Fakultät für Biologie, Universitüt Konstanz Postfach 5560, D-7750 Konstanz, FRG

In the leech, Hirudo medicinalis, the functional properties of the peripheral nephridial nerve cells (NNCs) were investigated using long-term extracellular recordings from both intact and isolated preparations

The NNCs respond selectively to changes in external Cl^- concentration: their electrical activity is highest in fluid containing normal (i.e. low) extracellular [Cl^-]. Their sensitivity to Cl^- is confined to the dendritic tree. Extracellular [Cl^-] is a control factor for ion homeostasis. It increases drastically after a blood meal, and after the animal has left the water or invaded brackish water. The NNCs continuously monitor the extracellular Cl^- concentration: their burst rate changes, without adapting, by a factor of 4 in the physiological range between 40 and 90 mmoll^-1.

Intracellular recordings from the NNC in isolated nephridial complexes suggest that a high Cl^- conductance in combination with active transport of Cl^- could be responsible for the observed Cl^- sensitivitys

Key words: salt receptor, chloride receptor, somatosensoric function, ion regulation, leech, Hirudo medicinalis

Accepted on December 16, 1988

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