Abstract
1. Acid-water extract of the ventral nerve-cords of an echiuroid worm, Urechis unicinctus, was forced through C-18 cartridges. The flowthrough and the retained material were respectively collected, and their biological activities were examined on the inner circular body-wall muscle of the worm and on the ABRM of the mussel Mytilus edulis. 2. The flowthrough was then fractionated by gel filtration (Sephadex G-15). The biological activities of the fractions were examined on the body-wall muscle. Some of the active fractions were also examined on the ABRM and the heart of the clam Meretrix lusoria. 3. The results suggest that the ventral nerve-cord contains at least four amine-like bioactive substances that have modulatory effects on twitch contraction of the body-wall muscle, one ACh-like substance and three catecholamine-like substances. 4. The ACh-like substance seems to be neither ACh nor choline. 5. It is also suggested that the nerve cord contains peptidergic substance that has a contractile activity on the body-wall muscle.
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