Abstract
Cellular and molecular genetic studies of development use glossiphoniid leeches because their embryos contain large identifiable cells (Blackshaw, this volume). However, most neurobiological research has been done on a different species, the medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis (Retzius, 1891; Muller et al., 1981). As a result of work done in a number of laboratories over the past 30 years, individual neurones or glia in Hirudo have been extensively characterised in terms of their physiology, their transmitter chemistry, their synaptic relations and their behavioural roles. Because the endpoint of development, the adult nervous system, is so well defined, it is possible to ask detailed questions about its development in terms of individual cells. Unlike leeches of the family of Glossiphoniidae, Hirudo lays small non-yolky eggs into a hard cocoon and these develop into an embryo that has transient specialisations for feeding on the albumen supplied in the cocoon fluid (Sawyer, 1986). For these reasons Hirudo embryos are not as well suited to studies of early cleavage stages. The non-yolky eggs do however offer advantages for studies of neural development since the more transparent nature of the later embryos means that developing neurones can be visualised in whole mounts of the germinal plate. Adult leeches are widely available from commercial suppliers and easy to maintain, and a number of laboratories have established breeding colonies to provide embryos for studies of neural development. This chapter outlines embryogenesis in hirudinid leeches and reviews techniques that have been used successfully to study normal development of identified cells as well as procedures used to manipulate some aspects of development.
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Blackshaw, S. (1990). Practical Approaches to the Study of Nervous System Development in Hirudinid Leeches. In: Marthy, HJ. (eds) Experimental Embryology in Aquatic Plants and Animals. NATO ASI Series, vol 195. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3830-1_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-3830-1_13
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