INVESTIGATING PHARMACOLOGICAL EFFECTS ON ACTION POTENTIALS FROM Lumbricus terrestris NERVE CORDS
HYUNSEO ARIEL KIM
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
SUNGWON CHO
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
YU JIN CHO
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
JUHUN HAN
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
ANDREW HWANG
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
ANTHONY W. BAE
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
GI WON SUNG
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
TAEHYUK KIM
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
JONGBIN LEE *
Provert Research Laboratory, 111 Charlotte Place #100/ Englewood Cliffs, NJ 07632, USA.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Vehicular crashes and falls are the most common reasons behind spinal cord injuries (SCI). These injuries boost physical and emotional distress alike. However, an optimal animal model for studying SCIs has not yet been established.
Aim: This study attempted to investigate the action potentials of Lumbricus terrestris derived from the electrical stimulation of the earthworms following the injection of multiple drugs that were recognized to have some effect on the nervous system.
Methodology: Controlled amounts of pharmacological solutions of alcohol, acetylcholine, lidocaine, or ibuprofen were injected near the ventral nerve cord of L. terrestris under anesthesia, and the action potentials were acquired subsequently. The action potentials were triggered with electric stimulation, and analyzed with derived parameters such as latent period, wave width, peak point, trough point, and area under the curve (AUC).
Conclusions: The parameters evaluated in this study mostly showed characteristic functional changes with respect to the injection volume up to 300 uL drug solutions. In addition, the parameters were differentiated for each drug showing a unique character. Further study might be needed with other neurologic drugs.
Keywords: Action potential, spinal cord injury, L. terrestris, telemetric monitoring, animal model, action potential propagation.