Distribution and role of aspartate in the nervous system of the chaetognath Sagitta.

Abstract

Cholinergic control of locomotory muscles in chaetognaths is monitored by diffuse transmitter release through layers of collagen fibers that form the connective stratum of the hydroskeleton. Despite the lack of morphologically defined synaptic junctions, the control of locomotor activity in chaetognaths is highly specific and allows complex behavioral patterns. This complexity suggests the existence of neuromediators acting to modulate the effects of the main motor neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, on muscular contraction. Immunocytochemical investigations performed in Sagitta friderici by using antibodies directed against L-aspartate revealed the presence of the amino acid within abundant fiber networks regularly distributed in the head, trunk, and tail and within discrete groups of cell bodies. In addition to known components of the sensory and motor nervous systems, L-aspartate immunoreactivity revealed previously undescribed intraepidermal networks of axonal profiles. With the exception of two giant anterior fibers radiating from the ventral ganglion, L-aspartate-immunoreactive processes were usually thin and varicose, occasionally making an anastomosis. As indicated by electron microscopy, L-aspartate-immunoreactive varicosities apposed to the connective stratum were filled with synaptic-like vesicles but displayed no synaptic differentiation. Physiologic investigations suggested a potent inhibitory effect of L-aspartate on acetylcholine-induced muscle contraction. The wide distribution pattern of immunoreactive profiles suggests an important role of L-aspartate in motor and sensory functions in chaetognaths. Although classified among excitatory amino acids in vertebrates, aspartate may function as an inhibitory modulator of acetylcholine-induced muscle contraction in these enterocoelous gastroneuralians.