Syncytial nerve net in a ctenophore adds insights on the evolution of nervous systems

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Burkhardt, Pawel; Colgren, Jeffrey; Medhus, Astrid; Digel, Leonid; Naumann, Benjamin; Soto-Angel, Joan J.; Nordmann, Eva -Lena; Sachkova, Maria Y.; Kittelmann, Maike
• 署名单位: University of Bergen; University of Rostock; Oxford Brookes University
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-12532
• DOI: 10.1126/science.ade5645
• 发表日期: 2023-04-21
• 页码: 293-297
• 关键词: neuron

摘要

A fundamental breakthrough in neurobiology has been the formulation of the neuron doctrine by Santiago Ramon y Cajal, which stated that the nervous system is composed of discrete cells. Electron microscopy later confirmed the doctrine and allowed the identification of synaptic connections. In this work, we used volume electron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstructions to characterize the nerve net of a ctenophore, a marine invertebrate that belongs to one of the earliest-branching animal lineages. We found that neurons in the subepithelial nerve net have a continuous plasma membrane that forms a syncytium. Our findings suggest fundamental differences of nerve net architectures between ctenophores and cnidarians or bilaterians and offer an alternative perspective on neural network organization and neurotransmission.