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Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Intracellular Recording, Sensory Field Mapping, and Culturing Identified Neurons in the Leech, Hirudo medicinalis
Published on: November 4, 2013
Membrane responses of the leech giant glial cell to the peptide transmitter myomodulin
Frank C Britz1, Joachim W Deitmer
1Abteilung für Allgemeine Zoologie, FB Biologie, Universität Kaiserslautern, Postfach 3049, D-67653 Kaiserslautern, Germany.
Abstract:
A myomodulin peptide has been suggested to mediate the response of the giant glial cells to stimulation of the Leydig interneuron in the central nervous system of the leech Hirudo medicinalis [Eur. J. Neurosci. 11 (1999) 3125]. We have now studied the glial response to the endogenous leech MM peptide (GMGALRL-NH(2), MMHir). The peptide evokes a membrane outward current (EC(50) approximately 2 microM), which neither desensitizes nor shows any sign of run-down, and elicits a K(+) conductance increase of the glial cell membrane. The peptidase inhibitor phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) enhances the glial current response, suggesting the presence of endogenous extracellular peptidases.
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