Researchers from Oxford Brookes University and the University of Bergen studied the structure of the nervous system
Scientists have studied the nervous system of the ctenophore onlarval stage. They used an electron microscope, which takes multiple images each time a diamond knife cuts off the top of a sample. The stacked images were then stacked together to form a high-resolution 3D dataset. The reconstruction showed the structure of a diffuse network of neurons, part of the animal's nervous system.
Reconstruction of the nervous network of ctenophores. Video: Pawel Burkhardt et al., Science
The model showed that neurons in the neural networkctenophores are not connected by synaptic connections, as in other animals. Instead, they coalesce and form a continuous membrane. At the same time, some other properties of the nervous network correspond to other animal species.
The unusual neural network of ctenophores confirmsthe idea that their nervous system could have evolved independently of other animals, the study authors say. Since the 19th century, there has been an idea that the nervous system consists of individual neurons. But it turns out that this is not always the case.
Ctenophores are a common type of marineanimals. They live in the waters of the ocean for about 600 million years and were among the first animals on the planet. It was believed that they separated from other living organisms before the emergence of neurons. The results of the study suggest that they have evolved an alternative nervous system in parallel with other species. Scientists believe that further analysis of the ctenophore's neural network may provide more information about the evolution of the nervous system.
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