HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free 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 Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Stuart, A. E. Articles by Kempter, E. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Stuart, A. E. Articles by Kempter, E. Related Collections Larval Biology Neuroscience Cell Biology Crustaceans

Uptake of the Neurotransmitter Histamine into the Eyes of Larvae of the Barnacle (Balanus amphitrite)

Department of Cell and Molecular Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7545

The photoreceptors of adult barnacles use histamine as their neurotransmitter and take up ³H-histamine selectively from the extracellular medium. We assayed for the uptake of ³H-histamine into the eyes of the free-swimming (nauplius) and settling (cyprid) larval stages of Balanus amphitrite. The extracellular space of nauplii proved permeable to dyes below about 800 molecular weight (MW), indicating that ³H-histamine (MW 111) introduced into seawater would have access to internal structures. ³H-Histamine was taken up into nauplii by a process with a K_D of 0.32 µM. Uptake was antagonized by chlorpromazine, which also blocks uptake of ³H-histamine into adult photoreceptors. In autoradiographs of serial sections of nauplii and cyprids incubated in ³H-histamine, the ocelli and compound eyes were labeled; other structures in the animal were not. No eyes or other structures were labeled with ³H-serotonin, a related amine whose transporter commonly transports histamine as well. These experiments show that a histamine-specific transporter similar to that found in the adult is expressed in all of the eyes of barnacle larvae. In the ocelli, where photoreceptors and pigment cells may be distinguished in the light microscope, label was unexpectedly concentrated far more over the pigment cells than over the photoreceptors.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. L. Vogan, B. H. Maskrey, G. W. Taylor, S. Henry, C. R. Pace-Asciak, A. S. Clare, and A. F. Rowley Hepoxilins and trioxilins in barnacles: an analysis of their potential roles in egg hatching and larval settlement J. Exp. Biol., September 15, 2003; 206(18): 3219 - 3226. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]