BACKGROUND One hundred years ago, experiments on beating frog hearts identified
acetylcholine (ACh) as the seminal neurotransmitter. Sixty years later, fractionation of the eel …

Acetylcholine is an abundant neurotransmitter in all animals. Effects of acetylcholine are
excitatory, inhibitory, or modulatory depending on the receptor and cell type. Research using …

Ion channels are specialized multimeric proteins that underlie cell excitability. These
channels integrate with a variety of neuromuscular and biological functions. In nematodes …

Biophysical properties of ligand-gated receptors can be profoundly modified by auxiliary
subunits or by the lipid microenvironment of the membrane. Hence, it is sometimes …

Caenorhabditis elegans feeds on bacteria and other small microorganisms which it ingests
using its pharynx, a neuromuscular pump. Currently, measuring feeding behavior requires …

Complex biological functions within organisms are frequently orchestrated by systemic
communication between tissues. In the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, the …

Auditory hair cells receive olivocochlear efferent innervation, which refines tonotopic
map**, improves sound discrimination, and mitigates acoustic trauma. The olivocochlear …

The ascarids are a large group of parasitic nematodes that infect a wide range of animal
species. In humans, they cause neglected diseases of poverty; many animal parasites also …

Neurotransmission is an important target for anthelmintic drugs, where receptor
characteristics and response can be examined through reconstitution ex vivo in Xenopus …

Organophosphate intoxication via acetylcholinesterase inhibition executes neurotoxicity via
hyper stimulation of acetylcholine receptors. Here, we use the organophosphate paraoxon …