Nonsynaptic characteristics of neurotransmission mediated by egg-laying hormone in the abdominal ganglion of Aplysia.

The bag cell neurons of the marine mollusk Aplysia are a putative multitransmitter system which utilizes two or more neuropeptides that are enzymatically cleaved from a common precursor protein. It has been proposed that one of the neuropeptides, egg-laying hormone (ELH), acts nonsynaptically as a neurotransmitter in the abdominal ganglion by diffusing long distances to target neurons compared to conventional transmitters acting at synapses. To test this idea further, we investigated the physiological properties of neurotransmission mediated by ELH. We found that ELH acts directly to duplicate two types of responses produced by a burst discharge of the bag cells: prolonged excitation of LB and LC cells, and the previously described effect of ELH, burst augmentation of cell R15. Analysis of perfusate collected after electrical stimulation of the bag cells showed that the peptide is released in sufficient quantity to diffuse long distances within the ganglion without being completely inactivated. To mimic the way the peptide is thought to be released physiologically, ELH was arterially perfused into the ganglion. The response normally produced by bag cell activity was duplicated by 0.5 to 1.0 microM concentrations of ELH and showed no rapid desensitization. ELH had no effect on cells that are unaffected by bag cell activity and no effect on cells that are inhibited (LUQ cells) or transiently excited (cells L1 and R1) by bag cell activity. Acidic peptide, another peptide encoded on the ELH precursor protein, was found to be synthesized and released by the bag cells, but it had no effect on the cells we tested. We conclude that the combined properties of ELH neurotransmission resemble the properties of transmission at autonomic nerve endings on cardiac and smooth muscle rather than those of conventional synaptic transmission. ELH released from bag cells is dispersed throughout the interstitial and vascular spaces of the ganglion to produce responses in the cells that have receptors for the peptide. The results also suggest that ELH mediates only a subset of the responses induced by bag cell activity; they are consistent with data indicating that the other responses are mediated by other bag cell peptides derived from the same precursor protein as ELH.