Summary
1. The nature of the stimulus which causes discharge of the cnidae (nematocysts and spirocysts) in the tentacles of Anemonia sulcata has been studied.
2. The cnidoblasts behave as independent effectors. Contact with solid food or electric stimuli cause only local discharge. Repetitive electric stimulation at various frequencies causes spread of excitation far down the nerve net of the tentacle but the cnida discharge remains localized under the stimulating electrode. There is no physiological evidence for any connexion ofcnidoblasts with the nervous system.
3. The stimulus to the cnidoblast is primarily due to direct mechanical contact. Discharge is easily effected by solid food. It can also be effected by inert solids provided the mechanical stimulus is sufficiently intense.
4. The normal stimulus to the cnidoblast is not a directly chemical one. Most food solutions and solutions of food derivatives do not cause a discharge. Some strong food solutions cause a few scattered cnidae to discharge. This differs from the intense local discharge to solid food.
5. Immersion in solutions of certain surface-active substances, such as the lower fatty acids, bile salts and saponin, causes an immediate general discharge of all the cnidae. This differs from the normal discharge to solid food.
6. Although natural food solutions do not normally cause a discharge, the cnidae are easily discharged by contact when they are present. That is, food solutions sensitize the cnidoblasts to mechanical stimuli.
7. The sensitizing substance is not protein. But it is strongly adsorbed on to protein. It cannot be extracted with ethyl ether. But it can be extracted with ethyl alcohol or acetone. Alcohol extracts of food are very active in sensitizing the cnidoblasts to mechanical disturbance.
8. Water insoluble foods can sensitize cnidoblasts with which they come in contact. Sensitization by contact is almost instantaneous. It is suggested that normally sensitization is due to some surface active lipoid directly transferred to the cnidoblast by contact.
- Copyright © 1958 The Company Of Biologists Ltd.
Article navigation
Related articles
Cited by...
More in this TOC section
Similar articles
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Featured article – Fastest whales and dolphins reinforce diaphragms
In a new Research Article, a team of Canadian and US scientists has discovered that whales and dolphins reinforce their diaphragms, probably to withstand pressure increases in the abdomen when they beat their tails while swimming.
Conversation – Kakani Katija
“Speaking with people at meetings is nothing like the effort you should put into nurturing your mentoring relationships”
Join our conversation with Kakani Katija, Principal Engineer at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA, where she designs and builds instrumentation to study marine invertebrate ecomechanics. Both an engineer and a scientist, she shares the story of her unusual career path and why mentoring is vital in academia.
Catch up with the previous interviews in our new series of Conversations with early-career researchers.
Short Communication – Phenotypic plasticity of muscle fibre type in the pectoral fins of Polypterus senegalus
Trina Du and Emily Standen reveal in a Short Communication that amphibious Senegal bichir raised in terrestrial environments develop a greater proportion of fast-contracting muscle fibres in their pectoral fins than aquatically reared fish.
JEB Classics – Circadian window of opportunity: what have we learned from insects?
In her JEB Classics article published in 2010, Jadwiga Giebultowicz discusses James Truman's 1972 paper investigating the timing of larval ecdysis entitled: ‘Physiology of insect rhythms: I. Circadian organization of the endocrine events underlying the moulting cycle of larval tobacco hornworms’.
This article features in a special collection on circadian rhythm research from The Company of Biologists, in honour of the 2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.