Neural Control of Locomotion in Marine Invertebrates
Richard Satterlie
Frank Hawkins Kenan Professor of Marine Biology, UNCW
Cubomedusan
Jellyfish
Carybdea marsupialis
Education/Employment
Clione limacina
Pteropod Mollusc
BS
Left – Normal, non-feeding posture. Right – Following ballistic
eversion of buccal cones and capture of prey (shelled pteropod)
University of California, Santa Barbara, 1978
PostDoc
University of Alberta (Canada), 1978-1980
Asst. Prof.
Arizona State University, 1980-1985
Assoc. Prof
Arizona State University, 1985-1991
Professor
Arizona State University, 1991-2004
Lucifer Yellow fill of the swim motor neurons in the inner nerve
ring of the hydromedusa Polyorchis. Only a single neuron was
filled with the dye, but all neurons are connected by gap junctions
which allow passage of the Lucifer Yellow dye. The neurons are
~25µm at their widest diameters.
FMRFamide (neuroactive peptide) immunoreactivity surrounding a
radial canal of the hydromedusa Proboscidactyla. The nerve cell
bodies are ~7µm.
Grass Foundation Fellowship in Neurobiology
(Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole) 1978
Neural Control of Locomotory Speed In the
Pteropod Mollusc,
Mollusc, Clione limacina
(Projects – available for grad/undergrad participation)
Izaak Walton Killam Memorial PostPost-Doctoral Scholarship
(University of Alberta) 1979-80
1. Role of a serotonergic arousal system in regulating
locomotory speed
Comparative Investigation of
Swim Control in Jellyfish
Dean’
Dean’s Distinguished Teaching Award, ASU, 1990
2. Neural control of a ballistic startle response
4. Role of postinhibitory rebound in swim
acceleration in pattern generator swim
interneurons
PhD
Polyorchis penicillatus
Awards and Honors
Serotonin Immunoreacivity in the cerebral ganglia.
Each ganglion is ~300µm in diameter
3. Mechanosensory inputs that trigger swim
acceleration
Hydromedusan
Jellyfish
Sonoma State University (California), 1973
Outstanding Professor Award
ASU Golden Key National Honor Society, 1990
Carboxyfluroescein fills of the pair of “whole body withdrawal”
neurons – cell bodies are the bright circles in the pleural ganglia.
These neurons control protective withdrawal of the body. Cerebral
ganglia are to the top, intestinal ganglia at bottom center, pedal
ganglia bottom (lateral to the intestinals)
5. Serotonin-triggered second messenger systems in
pattern generator interneurons and their roles in
swim acceleration
Distinguished Alumni Award
Sonoma State University, 1992
(Projects—available for grad/undergrad participation)
Top – low power electron micrograph of the striated swim muscle
of the hydromedusa Polyorchis. Bottom – higher magnification of
the junction between two of the muscle cells showing a pair of
desmosomes surrounding a gap junction.
2. Organization of the nerve ring (ultrastructure and
physiology)
Fulbright Scholar
University of St. Andrews, Scotland, 1994
3. Feeding-related modulation of swim activity
4. Protective “crumpling” and its inhibition of swim
activity
Parents Association Professor,
Professor ASU, 1994-96
6. Role of wing dorsoventral muscles in regulating
wing stiffness during swim acceleration
Guggenheim Fellow,
Fellow 2002-03
5. Vision in cubomedusae (morphology,
ultrastructure, and physiology)
7. Buccal cone ultrastructure
8. Role of the pleural asymmetric white cell in
reproductive behavior
9. Synapse identification in wings (ultrastructure and
immunohistochemistry)
6. Physiology and biomechanics of turning behavior
Service (current)
Immunohistochemical stain of wing dorsoventral muscles. The
dark bands are swim muscle bundles. The dorsoventral muscles run
into and out of the plane of the poster, and branch as they reach
each surface epithelium of the wing. The swim muscle bands are
~80µm wide.
Editorial Board,
Board Integrative and Comparative Biology
Program Officer, Division of Neurobiology
Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
Cubomedusae
1. Role of the “Diffuse Nerve Net” in modulation of
swimming activity in cubomedusae
7. Modeling of swim pacemaker interactions
Top – One of two complex eyes in the rhopalium (sensory club) of
the cubomedusa Carybdea. Cubomedusae have four of these
sensory clubs, which also contain swim pacemakers. Bottom, left –
Section through a rhopalium showing the two complex eyes and
two of the four ocelli (less complex photoreceptor structures).
Bottom, right – Section through one of the ocelli. Some
researchers claim that cubomedusae can form images with the
complex eyes. This is an active area of scientific debate and
research.
8. Nervous system morphology through the life cycle
Scyphomedusae
1. Dual innervation of swim muscle and the role of
the “Diffuse Nerve Net” in swim modulation
2. Eyes of scyphomedusae and photoreception
3. Physiology and biomechanics of turning behavior
4. Modeling of swim pacemaker interactions
5. Nervous system morphology through the life cycle
Hydromedusae
1. Morphology of conducting systems and their roles
in controlling and regulating swimming
Sensorin immunoreactivity in the central nervous system of Clione.
Sensorin marks primary mechanoreceptor neurons. This is a stereo
pair. If you defocus until you see three images, concentrate on
the center one of the three, and you may see a single
3-D image.
Top trace – intracellular recording of a pattern generator
interneuron. Each spike triggers a dorsal swim contraction of the
wings. Bottom trace – extracellular recording from the wing nerve.
At the arrow, a swim acceleration occurs. Note the increased
frequency of interneuron firing, baseline depolarization, and in the
wing nerve, recruitment of large spike elements.
Double label immunohistochemical preparation from the cubomedusa
Tripedalia cystophora. The red stain (actin antibody) shows the
striated swim muscle that lines the inside of the bell. Note the
striations. The green stain shows neurons of the subumbrellar motor
nerve net (tubulin antibody). The large swellings on the green
neurons are ~15µm.
All Groups (including Anthozoans)
Evolution of gap junctions – presence in the Hydrozoa
and absence in the Scyphozoa, Cubozoa, and
Anthozoa (molecular biology project)