Galvanotaxis of Caenorhabditis elegans: current understanding and its application in improving research

Shanmugam, Muniesh Muthaiyan

doi:10.15761/bem.1000111

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The finding that planarian electrotaxis is a brain-independent behavior differs from electrotaxis in other invertebrates, in which it is mediated by specific neurons in the head. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans moves toward the cathode in response to electric fields ( Shanmugam, 2017 ), and this behavior is disrupted when amphid sensory neurons in the head ganglia are surgically severed ( Gabel et al, 2007 ; Salam et al, 2013 ; Chrisman et al, 2016 ). In Drosophila larvae, a subset of peripheral neurons in the terminal organ at the anterior tip of the head becomes strongly activated when the neuronal axis becomes aligned with the direction of electric field ( Riedl, 2013 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Head removal enhances planarian electrotaxis

Sabry

Wang

Jahromi

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Certain animal species utilize electric fields for communication, hunting, and spatial orientation. Freshwater planarians move toward the cathode in a static electric field (cathodic electrotaxis). This planarian behavior was first described by Raymond Pearl more than a century ago. However, planarian electrotaxis has received little attention since, and the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary significance remain unknown. To close this knowledge gap, we developed an apparatus and scoring metrics for automated quantitative and mechanistic studies of planarian behavior upon exposure to a static electric field. Using this automated setup, we characterized electrotaxis in the planarian Dugesia japonica and found that this species responds to voltage instead of to current, in contrast to results from previous studies using other planarian species. Surprisingly, we found differences in electrotaxis ability between small (shorter) and large (longer) planarians. To determine the cause of these differences, we took advantage of the regenerative abilities of planarians and compared electrotaxis in head, tail, and trunk fragments of various lengths. We found that tail and trunk fragments electrotaxed while head fragments did not, regardless of size. Based on these data, we hypothesized that signals from the head may interfere with electrotaxis when the head area/body area reached a critical threshold. In support of this hypothesis, we found that (a) smaller intact planarians which cannot electrotax have a relatively larger head-to-body-ratio than large planarians which can electrotax, and that (b) electrotaxis behavior of cut head fragments was negatively correlated with the head-to-body ratio of the fragments. Moreover, we could restore cathodic electrotaxis in head fragments via decapitation, directly demonstrating inhibition of electrotaxis by the head.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Head removal enhances planarian electrotaxis

Sabry

Wang

Jahromi

et al. 2022

Journal of Experimental Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This aspect of planarian electrotaxis also differs from electrotaxis regulation in other invertebrates, where it is mediated by specific neurons in the head. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is known to move towards the cathode in response to electric fields (Shanmugam, 2017), and this behavior is disrupted when amphid sensory neurons in the head ganglia are surgically severed (Gabel et al, 2007;Salam et al, 2013;Chrisman et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Head Removal Enhances Planarian Electrotaxis

Sabry

Wang

Jahromi

et al. 2022

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sensing electric fields is an ability that certain animal species utilize for communication, hunting, and spatial orientation. Freshwater planarians move toward the cathode in a static electric field (cathodic electrotaxis). First described by Raymond Pearl more than a century ago, planarian electrotaxis has received little attention and the underlying mechanisms and evolutionary significance remain unknown. We developed an apparatus and scoring metrics for automated quantitative and mechanistic studies of planarian behavior upon exposure to a static electric field. Using this automated setup, we characterized electrotaxis in the planarian Dugesia japonica and found that this species responds to voltage instead of to current, in contrast to results from previous studies using other species. Because longer planarians exhibited more robust electrotaxis than shorter planarians, we hypothesized that signals from the head impede cathodic electrotaxis. To test this hypothesis, we took advantage of the regenerative abilities of planarians and compared electrotaxis in head and tail fragments of various lengths. We found that tail and trunk fragments electrotaxed while head fragments did not, regardless of size. However, we could restore cathodic electrotaxis in head fragments via decapitation, demonstrating that the presence of the head impaired cathodic electrotaxis. This result is in stark contrast to other stimulated behaviors such as phototaxis, thermotaxis or chemotaxis, which are weaker or absent in headless fragments. Thus, electrotaxis may be an important ability of headless planarian fragments to support survival prior to head regeneration.

show abstract

“…In in-vivo galvanosensation experimental assays, electric pulses of predefined profiles and customisable amplitude, duration and repetitions, are typically applied to the whole body of the nematode since directed charge to specific neuron is hard to achieve (Shanmugam, 2017 ). We model galvanosensation experiment applying electric pulses directly to all the neurons of the simulated worm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In Figure 9E , a train of electrical impulses with magnitude 10 nA, frequency of 10 Hz and pulse duration of 20 ms is tranferred to all neurons. A box function allows for applying short pulses, modeling thus spikes of neural communication or constant currents like in Shanmugam ( 2017 ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling Behavioral Experiment Interaction and Environmental Stimuli for a Synthetic C. elegans

Mujika

Leškovský

Álvarez

et al. 2017

Front. Neuroinform.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper focusses on the simulation of the neural network of the Caenorhabditis elegans living organism, and more specifically in the modeling of the stimuli applied within behavioral experiments and the stimuli that is generated in the interaction of the C. elegans with the environment. To the best of our knowledge, all efforts regarding stimuli modeling for the C. elegansare focused on a single type of stimulus, which is usually tested with a limited subnetwork of the C. elegansneural system. In this paper, we follow a different approach where we model a wide-range of different stimuli, with more flexible neural network configurations and simulations in mind. Moreover, we focus on the stimuli sensation by different types of sensory organs or various sensory principles of the neurons. As part of this work, most common stimuli involved in behavioral assays have been modeled. It includes models for mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical and light stimuli, and for proprioception-related self-sensed information exchange with the neural network. The developed models have been implemented and tested with the hardware-based Si elegans simulation platform.

show abstract

Galvanotaxis of Caenorhabditis elegans: current understanding and its application in improving research

Cited by 10 publications

References 17 publications

Head removal enhances planarian electrotaxis

Head removal enhances planarian electrotaxis

Head Removal Enhances Planarian Electrotaxis

Modeling Behavioral Experiment Interaction and Environmental Stimuli for a Synthetic C. elegans

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About