MICROSPECTROFLUORIMETRIC MEASUREMENTS ON CELLS CONTAINING BIOGENIC AMINES IN THE CEREBRAL GANGLION OF THE POLYCHAETE NEREIS VIRENS (SARS)

¹ Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 McGregor Ave., Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3A 1B1

1. Vital staining with neutral red reveals that possible biogenic amine-containing cells are abundant in the cerebral ganglion of the polychaete, Nereis virens.

2. Fluorescence microscopy indicates two kinds of cells exhibiting specific fluorescence, one blue-green (cyan) and the other yellow.

3. The emission spectrum recorded from the cyan fluorescing cells is characteristic of a catecholamine, which is probably not adrenalin.

4. Emission spectra recorded from yellow fluorescing cells are of two types, both suggestive of a mixture of indolylethylamines. It is probable that 5-HT is one component of these spectra. A possible relationship between some of these yellow cells and prostomial mucous glands is discussed.

5. Yellow specific fluorescence was confined to the cerebral ganglion where cyan fluorescence was also seen in peripheral areas, a distribution suggestive of a sensory rôle for peripheral catecholaminergic cells.

6. The probability that both catecholaminergic and indolylethylamine-containing neurons in the cerebral ganglion serve to control or modify other neural or neuro-secretory activity is discussed.