Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T21:31:00.588Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Neurosecretory System of the Vena Cava In Cephalopoda I. Eledone Cirrosa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

J. S. Alexandrowicz
Affiliation:
The Plymouth Laboratory

Extract

Nerves known to supply the anterior part of the vena cava in Cephalopoda have been found to belong to a special system for which the term ‘neurosecretory system of the vena cava’ (NSV system for short) is proposed. In Eledone cirrosa this system consists of neurons whose cell bodies are aggregated: (a) in the visceral lobe in a layer termed the NSV layer; (b) in the ganglionic trunks continuous with this layer and associated with nerves arising from the visceral lobe—there is on each side a ‘lateral NSV trunk’ accompanying the nervus infundibuli posterior, and a ‘medial NSV trunk’ accompanying the nervus visceralis. Each of these trunks in its further course separates from its nerve and runs far in the caudal direction diminishing in thickness and giving off sideshoots of irregular shape which end blindly in the loose connective tissue and show no connexions with any organ.

The NSV layer and trunks consist of unipolar nerve cells of small size and uniform appearance. Their very thin axons unite in bundles which form nerves running to the vena cava. The total number of neurons of the NSV system, approximately estimated, must be over two millions. The disposition of the elements of this system is peculiar in that the axons of the cells situated in the caudal prolongations of the ganglionic trunks must run far rostralwards until they reach the nerves to which they contribute.

The nerves entering the vein penetrate through its muscle coat and form a network under the endothelial lining of the vein; this continuous neuropile layer extends from the anterior end of the vein to the entrance of the vena hepatica; all this part of the vein has on its inside longitudinal ridges formed by the uneven thickness of the neuropile layer.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1964

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Alexandrowicz, J. S., 1962. An accessory organ of the circulatory system in Sepia and Loligo. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 42, pp. 405–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Alexandrowicz, J. S., 1963. A pulsating ganglion in the Octopoda. Proc. roy. Soc. B, Vol. 157, pp. 562–73.Google Scholar
Bauer, V., 1909. Einführung in die Physiologie der Cephalopoden. Mitt. zool. Sta. Neapel, Bd. 19, pp. 149268.Google Scholar
Boycott, B. B. & Young, J. Z., 1956. The subpedunculate body and nerve and other organs associated with the optic tract of cephalopods. Bertil Hanström Zoological Papers, pp. 76105.Google Scholar
Cheron, J., 1866. Recherches pour servir à l'histoire du système nerveux des Céphalopodes dibranchiaux. Ann. Sci. nat., Sér. 5, T. 5, pp. 5122.Google Scholar
Chun, C., 1914. Die Cephalopoden. II. Teil: Myopsida, Octopoda. Wiss. Ergebn. ‘Valdivia’, Bd. 18.Google Scholar
Cuvier, G., 1817. Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire et à l'anatomie des Mollusques. Mémoire sur les Céphalopodes et sur leur anatomie. Paris.Google Scholar
Gabe, M., 1953. Sur quelque application de la coloration par la fuchsine-paraldehyde. Bull. Micros, appliq., T. 3, nos. 1112.Google Scholar
Haller, B., 1913. Die Intelligenzsphären des Molluskengehirns. Arch. mikr. Anat., Bd. 81, pp. 233322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hillig, R., 1912. Das Nervensystem von Sepia officinalis L. Z. wiss. Zool., Bd. 101, pp. 736800.Google Scholar
Palmgren, A., 1948. A rapid method for selective silver staining of nerve fibres and nerve endings in mounted paraffin sections. Acta zool., Stockh., Vol. 20, pp. 377–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfefeerkorn, A., 1915. Das Nervensystem der Octopoden. Z. wiss. Zool., Bd. 114, pp. 425531Google Scholar
Thore, S., 1936. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der sog. weissen Körper nebst Mitteilung über ein neues Organ bei Octopus vulgaris. K. fysiogr. Sällsk. Lund Förk., Bd. 6, pp. 147–56. [Quoted from Boycott & Young.]Google Scholar
Thore, S., 1939. Beiträge zur Kenntnis der vergleichenden Anatomie des zentralen Nerven-systems der dibranchiaten Cephalopoden. Pubbl. Staz. zool. Napoli, Vol. 17, PP. 313506Google Scholar
Young, J. Z., 1963. The number and sizes of nerve cells in Octopus. Proc. zool. Soc. Lond., Vol. 1940, pp. 229–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar