Comparative physiology of morphology and function of the enteric nervous system.

在各种动物中，肠道神经系统(ENS)由胃肠道固有的神经元网络组成。在这项研究中，我们比较了门以外的动物的ENS的结构和功能：软体动物的海螺和池螺，节肢动物的虾和等足类动物，棘皮动物的海参。在大多数动物中，ENS神经元表现出自主的周期性爆发活动。胃肠道神经元活动和运动的同步记录表明，只有软体动物，而不是节肢动物和棘皮动物，周期性爆发之后是蠕动运动。这一观察表明，软体动物的ENS含有负责神经源性蠕动节律性的起搏神经元。在其他动物中，肠道运动的节律性起源于肌源性起搏器。由于胃肠道结构的差异，“起搏区”在相关物种中的定位也不同。例如，Bursat a与Lymna ea而不是Aplysia有共同的特征，尽管后者与Bursat a的亲缘关系更近。

In a wide variety of animals, the enteric nervous system (ENS) consists of a network of neurons intrinsic to the gastrointestinal tract. In this study, we compared the structure and function of the ENS among animals beyond phylum: sea snail and pond snailfrom mollusks, shrimps and isopod from arthropods, and sea-cucumbers from echinoderms. In most of animals, ENS neurons exhibited autonomous periodic-burst activity. Simultaneous recording of neuronal activities and movements of the gastrointestinal tract revealed that only in mollusks, but not in arthropods nor echinoderms, the periodic bursts were followed by peristaltic movements. This observation shows that the ENS in mollusks contains pacemaker neurons responsible for the neurogenic rhythmicity of peristalsis. In other animals, the rhythmicity of the gut motility originated in the myogenic pacemaker. The "pacemaker region" was localized differently among related species due to the structural differences of the gastrointestinal tract. For example, Bursatella shared common characteristics with Lymnaea rather than Aplysia, even though the latter species is more closely related to Bursatella.