NEUROPHARMACOLOGICAL STUDIES ON IDENTIFIED CENTRAL NEURONS OF THE SNAIL, HELIX-ASPERSA

Central neurones of the snail, Helix aspersa, possess both synaptic and somatic receptors to a wide range of classical transmitters and neuroactive peptides. The range of receptors and the type of response is reasonably constant for a specific neurone. This review will provide data concerning the pharmacology of acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, octopamine, glutamate, GABA and purine receptors on identified neurones. Many of these neurones also respond to neuroactive peptides including molluscan peptides e.g, AMPMLRLamide, LSSFVRIamide, SGQSWRQGRPFamide, FMRFamide; coelenterate peptides, e g, pQGRFamide; echinoderm peptides, e g, GFNSALMFamide; and nematode peptides, e g, KNEFIRFamide, KHEYLRFamide, SDPNFLRFamide. Using this data, the pharmacological profiles of identified neurones will be summarised.