Mechanoreceptors, Photoreceptors and Rapid Conduction Pathways in the Leech, Hirudo Medicinalis

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Abstract
1. Mechanoreceptors in the body wall of the leech Hirudo are stimulated by deformation of the animal's surface. They respond at all frequencies of stimulation up to about 50-60 Hz. 2. Light flashes, from a microscope lamp or an electronic flash source, are also a potent means of peripheral stimulation. 3. After peripheral stimulation impulses can be recorded in a fast central pathway. This pathway conducts equally well in the posterior to anterior and in the opposite directions. 4. Interference with either the right or left connective linking any two segmental ganglia does not interrupt the rapid conduction of these impulses. 5. Severance of the median connective or Faivre's nerve interrupts conduction. This seems to implicate at least one, and possibly more, of the nerve fibres of this median connective in the rapid transmission of information from the extremities of the body. 6. A slower conducting pathway also exists in the nerve cord.