QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by WU, K. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by WU, K. S.

Journal of Experimental Biology 16,251-257 (1939)
Published by Company of Biologists 1939

The Action of Drugs, Especially Acetylcholine, on the Annelid Body Wall (Lumbricus, Arenicola)

K. S. WU ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, University College London

1. The actions of certain drugs (acetylcholine, eserine, atropine, nicotine, adrenaline) on strips of the body wall of the earthworm (Lumbricus terrestris) and lugworm (Arenicola marina) are described.

2. The body wall of the earthworm and lugworm resembles the dorsum of the leech, and also vertebrate skeletal muscle, in the following points: relatively insensitive to acetylcholine alone, sensitivity to acetylcholine greatly increased by eserine, response to acetylcholine abolished by nicotine. In these points, the muscles mentioned contrast with the earthworm gut and the mammalian intestine, which are: very sensitive to acetylcholine alone, sensitivity not greatly increased by eserine, response to acetylcholine abolished by atropine.

3. The various types of body wall strip differ among themselves as regards spontaneous activity, response to eserine alone, and response to adrenaline.