Non-innervated sense organs of the lateral line: development in the regenerating tail of the salamanderAmbystoma mexicanum

1976 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M�rup J�rgensen ◽  
�ke Flock
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Line ◽  
Sense Organs

The Activity of Lateral-Line Efferent Neurones in Stationary and Swimming Dogfish

1972 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. L. ROBERTS ◽  
I. J. RUSSELL
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Line ◽  
Body Movement ◽  
Cranial Nerves ◽  
Regulatory System ◽  
The Body ◽  
Muscle Fibres ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Efferent System ◽  
Natural Stimulation ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. The activity of efferent neurones innervating lateral-line organs on the body of dogfish was followed by recording from filaments of cranial nerve X in 41 decerebrate preparations. 2. The efferent nerves were not spontaneously active. 3. Tactile stimulation to the head and body, vestibular stimulation and noxious chemical stimulation were followed by activity of the efferent nerves. 4. In contrast, natural stimulation of lateral-line organs (water jets) did not reflexly evoke discharges from the efferent fibres. 5. Reflex efferent responses were still obtained to mechanical stimulation even after the lateral-line organs had been denervated. 6. Electrical stimulation of cranial nerves innervating lateral-lines organs was followed by reflex activity of the efferent fibres. But similar stimuli applied to other cranial nerves were equally effective in exciting the efferent system. 7. Vigorous movements of the fish, involving the white musculature, were preceded and accompanied by activity of the efferent fibres which persisted as long as the white muscle fibres were contracting. 8. Rhythmical swimming movements were accompanied by a few impulses in the efferent fibres grouped in bursts at the same frequency as the swimming movements. 9. It is concluded that the efferent neurones cannot contribute to a feedback regulatory system because they are not excited by natural stimulation of the lateral-line sense organs. The close correlation found between efferent activity and body movement suggests that the efferent system might operate in a protective manner to prevent the sense organs from being over-stimulated when the fish makes vigorous movements.

scholarly journals The function of the ampullae of Lorenzini, with some observations on the effect of temperature on sensory rhythms

1938 ◽  
Vol 125 (841) ◽  
pp. 524-553 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Line ◽  
Cranial Nerves ◽  
Effect Of Temperature ◽  
Comprehensive Treatment ◽  
Lateral Line System ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Line System ◽  
Ampullae Of Lorenzini ◽  
History Of ◽  
Relationship Of

The recognition of the morphological and developmental relationship of the vertebrate auditory organ and the lateral-line system of fishes and aquatic Amphibia rests on the foundation of a large volume of com­ parative researches. The main outlines of this generalization were already laid down forty years ago, and Cole’s work on the cranial nerves and lateral sense organs of fishes (1898) contains a comprehensive treatment of the history of the subject. The acustico-lateral or neuromast system embraces, in addition to the labyrinth and the lateral-line canals, the pit organs found to a greater or less extent in most fishes, the vesicles of Torpedo , and the ampullary canal system of Selachians and Holocephali. Concerning these Cole wrote: “The history of our knowledge of the phylogeny of the sensory canals is coincident with three discoveries—the discovery that the‘mucus’ canals contain sense organs, the discovery of Savi’s vesicles, and the dis­covery of the ampullae of Lorenzini.... We now know that all three types belong to the lateral line system, and I shall suggest that they represent three stages in the development of a canal—the most superficial condition, represented by the pit organs and Savi’s vesicles; the full development, represented by the canal; and the intermediate type, forming neither a Savi vesicle nor yet a canal, represented by the ampullae of Lorenzini” (p. 187). This conception has remained valid to the present day. The ampullae of Lorenzini, with which I am here principally concerned, are briefly described in current text-books as transitional or specialized neuromasts, and the implication always is that structurally and functionally they do not differ significantly from the neuromasts of the lateral-line canals. For example, in their recent exhaustive treatise on the vertebrate nervous system Kappers, Huber and Crosby (1936) state with reference to the lateral-line canals, the Savi vesicles and the ampullae of Lorenzini: “thus in the various animals there is a transition between an open and a closed system for perceiving vibrations" (p. 438).

scholarly journals The mechanism of the lateral sense organs of fishes

1937 ◽  
Vol 123 (833) ◽  
pp. 472-495 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Line ◽  
Cranial Nerves ◽  
Sensory System ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Lateral Line System ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Line System ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Low Frequency Vibration ◽  
Functional Features

For a long time after their discovery in the seventeenth century the lateral-line canals of fishes were considered to be mucus-secreting organs. In 1850 Leydig described sense organs in the lateral-line canals, and this discovery stimulated a keen interest in the investigation of both the morphological and functional features of the lateral-line system. Morphological studies have yielded a thorough understanding of the structure of these organs (Ewart and Mitchell 1892; Cole 1896; Johnson 1917; von Woellwarth 1933). Physiological studies, though numerous, have been less fruitful. An account of the older work was given by Baglioni (1913), and the more recent work is reviewed by Dykgraaf (1933). The only technique until recently available has been the elimination of the sensory system by nerve section and cauterization, and the comparison of the behaviour of intact and operated fishes in response to various stimuli. With so diffuse a structure as the lateral-line system, receiving its nerve supply from the fifth, seventh, ninth and tenth cranial nerves, this method is particularly inadequate, and involves a violent mutilation of the animal. When one considers the crudity of many of these operations, it is not the uncertainty of the results which is remarkable, but rather that some of the conclusions reached should remain valid to-day in the light of far more penetrating experimental analysis. This method of organ elimination could yield at best only an indication of the kind of stimulus that is effective in evoking the excitation of lateral-line receptors. In current textbooks the conclusion of Parker (1904) that the effective stimulus for the lateral line is low-frequency vibration, and that of Hofer (1907) that it is movement of water (i. e. local currents) have received most notice. The observations of Dykgraaf (1933), who employed the more refined methods of von Frisch’s futterdressur technique, support Hofer’s conclusion, and to some extent also Parker’s. Dykgraaf considers the lateral-line system to be an organ of Ferntastsinn , and if this is taken to mean a mechanoreceptor of such sensitivity that it can function both as a touch organ and as a receptor for disturbances coming from a distance, it is undoubtedly a true description, for it is fully confirmed by the direct electrophysiological studies of Hoagland (1933 a, b, c and d ) and of Schriever (1935). The latter, apparently unacquainted with Hoagland’s work, did little more than to confirm several of his observations.

Inhibition of Spontaneous Lateral-Line Activity by Efferent Nerve Stimulation

1972 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-82
Author(s):  
I. J. RUSSELL ◽  
B. L. ROBERTS
Keyword(s):  
Lateral Line ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Inhibitory Effect ◽  
Afferent Activity ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Nerve Fibres ◽  
Impulse Frequency ◽  
Efferent Nerve ◽  
Visible Effect ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. Efferent nerve fibres innervating the lateral-line sense organs of the dogfish Scyliorhinus were stimulated with trains of stimuli while spontaneous afferent activity was monitored. 2. Significant changes in spontaneous impulse frequency could be produced when the efferent nerves were stimulated by trains of pulses at frequencies between 20-100 sec-1 lower stimulus frequencies had no visible effect. The impulse frequency decreased or was totally inhibited during the stimulus period and for 150-200 msec following it. The inhibitory effect was very variable and declined with repetitive stimulation. 3. Stimulation of the efferent nerves to inactive afferent units was followed after 500 msec by a brief low-frequency discharge.

Perception of Surface Waves by the Blackstripe Topminnow, Fundulus notatus

1966 ◽  
Vol 23 (9) ◽  
pp. 1331-1352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erich Schwartz ◽  
Arthur D. Hasler
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waves ◽  
Lateral Line ◽  
Sense Organ ◽  
Dorsal Surface ◽  
Longitudinal Axis ◽  
Intensity Difference ◽  
Sense Organs ◽  
Wave Source ◽  
Fundulus Notatus ◽  
The Individual

The function of the cephalic lateral line in perceiving surface waves and its ecological significance was examined in the topminnow, Fundulus notatus (Rafinesque), a fish which frequents the surface waters. The sense organs are located in groups on the dorsal surface of the flatish head and are prominently visible on the skin. The individual organs of each group form a specific angle when related to the fish's midline. These organs perceive the force of slight surface waves and the perceptional field is omnidirectional. A great number of enucleated fish respond spontaneously, but when trained they orient toward the source of the disturbance on the surface up to a distance of 15 cm. The fact that the radiating wave is curved enables fish to locate the origin accurately. Fundulus notatus does not distinguish between two waves of equal strength striking simultaneously; it does so, however, if a time or intensity difference is present. A fish with sense organs removed from one side of the head deviates at a constant angle from the wave source. The perceptional field of individual organs or canals circumscribes a line drawn through the longitudinal axis of the organ or canal. A wave, therefore, traveling parallel to the longitudinal axis of the oval sense organ and hence the cupula, stimulates to the greatest extent whereas a wave perpendicular to it does not. The individual organs possess a directional property and, therefore, their arrangement on the head is functionally meaningful. The lateral line supplements the vision of the fish in finding its prey at the water surface.

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