Worm Breeder's Gazette 8(2): 27
These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.
We have attempted to summarize the connectivity of the hermaphrodite's nervous system in a set of diagrams. Most (but not all) of the neurone classes have been represented and some are present in more than one diagram. The diagrams show the connections between classes of neurone rather than individual neurones; thus any intra- class differences in connectivity are not represented. Connections mediated by chemical synapses vary considerably in the number of synapses making the connection and in the sizes of the individual synapses. We have therefore tried to give some indication of the 'strengths' of these connections in the diagrams. We have tried to make rough functional groupings of neurone classes whilst also minimizing the number of connections between diagrams. The groupings are as follows: a) Circuitry associated with the amphid receptors. b) Circuitry associated with the anterior mechanoreceptors. c) The motoneurones and interneurones in the nerve ring. d) The motoneurones and interneurones in the ventral cord. e) The motoneurones innervating the vulval muscles plus loosely related circuitry. f) The circuitry associated with neurones in the tail. Receptor neurones - triangle; interneurones - hexagons; motoneurones - circles. --> chemical synapses; cross bars indicate morphological prominence of synaptic contact on a scale of 1 to 4. --| gap junction. [see Figures 1-6]