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Journal of Experimental Biology 83,159-167 (1979)
Published by Company of Biologists 1979

Electrical Recording from the Contractile Ciliate Zoothamnium Geniculatum Ayrton

R. B. MORETON ¹ and W. B. AMOS ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ

1. The spherical body (200 µm in diameter) of this ciliate protozoan was easily immobilized on a suction pipette and penetrated with glass micro electrodes.

2. No recordings could be made from the contractile stalk, but in the body a negative potential of 30.3 ± 125 mV was observed.

3. Approximately 9 ms after the onset of a mechanical stimulus, a rapid depolarization was observed. This was apparently simultaneous throughout the body surface. The amplitude was 38.9 ± 13.7 mV. Recordings with aphotomultiplier showed that contraction of the stalk began 10 ms later.

4. A slower depolarization of complex form was observed during systole of the contractile vacuole.