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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

A Fish-feeding Laboratory Bioassay to Assess the Antipredatory Activity of Secondary Metabolites from the Tissues of Marine Organisms
Published on: January 11, 2015
Oral administration of pharmacologically active substances to squid: a methodological description
William Berk1, Jake Teperman, Kerry D Walton
1Marine Biological Laboratory, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, USA.
Abstract:
The squid giant synapse is a well-defined experimental preparation for the study of ligand-dependant synaptic transmission. Its large size gives direct experimental access to both presynaptic and postsynaptic junctional elements, allowing direct optical, biophysical, and electrophysiological analysis of depolarization-release coupling. However, this important model has not been utilized in pharmacological studies, other than those implementable acutely in the in vitro condition. A method is presented for oral administration of bioactive substances to living squid. Electrophysiological characterization and direct determination of drug absorption into the nervous system demonstrate the administration method described here to be appropriate for pharmacological research.
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