QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by GALT, C. P. Articles by MACKIE, G. O. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by GALT, C. P. Articles by MACKIE, G. O.

Journal of Experimental Biology 55,205-212 (1971)
Published by Company of Biologists 1971

Electrical Correlates of Ciliary Reversal in Oikopleura

C. P. GALT ¹ and G. O. MACKIE ²

¹ Zoology Department, University of Washington, Seattle, U.S.A.
² Biology Department, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

1. Reversal of the water current through the pharynx of Oikopleura is brought about by a change in the action of the cilia of the two stigmatal ciliated rings. These ‘ciliary reversals’ occur synchronously in the two ciliated rings and can be evoked by the addition of particulate material to the incoming water or by tactile or electrical stimulation of the lips.

2. Nerves run from the lips via the brain to individual ciliated cells, and it is therefore likely that the ciliated cells are under nervous control.

3. At each ciliary reversal an electrical potential can be picked up on the body surface. The same events are recorded by microelectrodes inserted into the ciliated rings. The microelectrode recordings resemble intracellular recordings, and the reversal potentials are considered to represent depolarizations of the membranes of the ciliated cells.

4. Ciliary reversals continue after removal of the brain, suggesting the existence of a peripheral pacemaker.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Bassham and J. H. Postlethwait The evolutionary history of placodes: a molecular genetic investigation of the larvacean urochordate Oikopleura dioica Development, October 1, 2005; 132(19): 4259 - 4272. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]