The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 78 No. 6 December 1997, pp. 2823-2833
Copyright ©1997 The American Physiological Society

Functional Role of Peptidergic Anterior Lobe Neurons in Male Sexual Behavior of the Snail Lymnaea stagnalis

Pamela A.C.M. De Boer¹, Andries Ter Maat¹, Anton W. Pieneman¹, Roger P. Croll², Makoto Kurokawa³, and René F. Jansen¹

¹ Department of Organismal Neurobiology, Faculty of Biology, Vrije Universiteit, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ² Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4H7, Canada; and ³ Department of Biology, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-03, Japan

De Boer, Pamela A.C.M., Andries Ter Maat, Anton W. Pieneman, Roger P. Croll, Makoto Kurokawa, and René F. Jansen. Functional role of peptidergic anterior lobe neurons in male sexual behavior of the snail Lymnaea stagnalis. J. Neurophysiol. 78: 2823-2833, 1997. A morphologically defined group of peptidergic neurons in the CNS of the hermaphroditic snail, Lymnaea stagnalis, is concerned with the control of a very specific element of male sexual behavior. These neurons are located in the anterior lobe of the right cerebral ganglion (rAL). By using chronically implanted electrodes, we show that the rAL neurons are selectively active during eversion of the penis-carrying structure, the preputium. The preputium is normally contained inside the body cavity and is everted during copulation in the male role. Electrical stimulation of the rAL neurons through the implanted electrodes, induced eversion of the preputium in vivo. Injection of APGWamide (Ala-Pro-Gly-Try-NH₂), a small neuropeptide that is present in all rAL neurons, induced eversion of the preputium. Application of APGWamide to in vitro preparations of the preputium caused relaxation of this organ. In contrast, injection of the neuropeptide conopressin, which is co-localized with APGWamide in 60% of the rAL neurons, did not induce any behavior associated with male sexual activities. These results show that the neurons of the rAL can induce an eversion of the preputium as occurs during male copulation by release of APGWamide during a period of electrical activity.

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