Neurosecretory cells in the central nervous system of the red slug Arion rufus L

Abstract

ABSTRACT The neurosecretory system of the forest red slug Arion rufus was studied using the alcian blue/alcian yellow (AB/AY) staining technique for neurosecretion. Stainable cells were identified in the paired cerebral, pleural, parietal, pedal, and buccal ganglia, and in the visceral ganglion. The cells occur as single cells or in groups of up to 30, each with diameters ranging from 15 to 130 mm. Axon tracts could only be traced for some groups of cells; neurohemal areas were identified for some neurosecretory cells in the cerebral ganglia. The morphological features of the neurosecretory system of A. rufus are compared with those of other investigated stylommatophoran slugs. The ultrastructural studies of both cerebral ganglia and connective tissue that surrounds it, reveal that nervous control of an endocrine organ, “the dorsal bodies, by cerebral dark green cells might be taken into consideration.