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About the Cover
Cover:
In the Pacific red rock crab, Cancer productus (top; photo taken by J. M. Edwards and A. E. Christie), ingestion and movement of food through the foregut is controlled by neural circuits contained within the stomatogastric nervous system (STNS). For some time, it has been known that the STNS circuits are modulated by circulating hormones. In crabs, the sources of hormones influencing the STNS were thought to be extrinsic to this system. In the article by A. E. Christie and colleagues (pp. 1163-1182), anatomical methods, including laser scanning confocal microscopy (bottom left; photo taken by A. E. Christie) and transmission electron microscopy (bottom right; photo taken by S. D. Cain), were used to identify and describe a novel neuroendocrine site within the STNS. These findings show that the STNS of C. productus is not only a potential target for circulating hormones but also contains a neuroendocrine organ.
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