Alpha-conotoxin ImI disrupts central control of swimming in the medicinal leech.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wagenaar DA
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2956871 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Alpha-conotoxin ImI disrupts central control of swimming in the medicinal leech.
Wagenaar Daniel A DA Gonzalez Ruben R Ries David C DC Kristan William B WB French Kathleen A KA
Neuroscience letters 20100915 3
Medicinal leeches (Hirudo spp.) swim using a metachronal, front-to-back undulation. The behavior is generated by central pattern generators (CPGs) distributed along the animal's midbody ganglia and is coordinated by both central and peripheral mechanisms. Here we report that a component of the venom of Conus imperialis, α-conotoxin ImI, known to block nicotinic acetyl-choline receptors in other species, disrupts swimming. Leeches injected with the toxin swam in circles with exaggerated dorsovent ...[more]
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