Action of dopamine as inhibitory neuromodulator in jellyfish synapse

Jun Mo Chung, Andrew N. Spencer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dopamine (DA) acts on swimming motor neurons (SMNs) of Polyorchis penicillatus as an inhibitory neurotransmitter by hyperpolarizing their membrane potentials, which results from the activation of voltage-sensitive potassium channels mediated through a D2-type receptor. In addition, DA, and not the hyperpolarized membrane potential, directly decreased the input resistance of SMNs by ca. 50% from 1.42 to 0.68 GΩ. It strongly indicates that DA can shunt other excitatory synaptic signals onto SMNs where DA usually elicited much greater responses in their neuntes than soma. All these evidences suggest that DA may operate in this primitive nervous system in dual modes as an inhibitory neurotransmitter and neuromodulator as well.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)264-268
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Volume31
Issue number3
StatePublished - 31 May 1998

Keywords

  • Catecholamines
  • Cnidarian neurons
  • Input resistance
  • Shunt
  • Synaptic efficacy

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