Abstract
CONTRARY to the belief of certain investigators1,2 acetylcholine occurs in some tissues of decapod crustaceans in considerable amounts. Trichloracetic acid extracts of leg nerves and ventral ganglia of Carcinus indicate a difference in the distribution of acetylcholine in these two tissues which is in close agreement with the distribution of choline esterase in the ventral ganglia and longitudinal commissures of the lobster, Homarus. In this form it has been shown3,4 that two to four times as much choline esterase is present in the ventral ganglia as in the rest of the cord, which consists of fibres, with few, if any, nerve endings. In Carcinus there is approximately five times as much acetylcholine in the ventral ganglia as in the leg nerves.
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References
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WELSH, J. Occurrence of Acetylcholine in Nervous Tissue of Crustaceans and its Effect on the Crab Heart. Nature 142, 151 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/142151a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/142151a0
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