Chapter category:
Nitric Oxide in Lower Invertebrates
Planaria: A Model for Drug Action
and Abuse
Edited by: Robert B. Raffa and Scott M. RawlsISBN: TBA
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Chapter authors:
Marco Colasanti and Giorgio Venturini
Nitric oxide (NO) is considered an important signaling molecule involved in many different physiological processes, including nervous transmission, vascular regulation, immune defense and in the pathogenesis of several diseases. The presence and roles of NO are well demonstrated in the main invertebrate groups, showing the widespread presence of this signaling molecule throughout the animal kingdom, from porifera up to higher invertebrates. Conscious of the restrictions involved in the choice they made, the authors attempt to provide a survey of current knowledge of the genesis and possible roles of NO and the related signaling pathway in lower invertebrates (i.e., porifera, cnidaria and platyhelmintes). Unfortunately, the great diversity of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) family within the animal kingdom clearly prevents interpretation of the emerging comparative data in terms of the existing classification of mammalian NOS isoforms. Nevertheless, all of these results indicate that NO is one of the earliest and most widespread signaling molecules in living organisms.
Marco Colasanti
Dipartimento di Biologia, Università di Roma Tre, Roma, Italy.
Giorgio Venturini
Additional chapters from this book:
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Planaria species are powerful models for the study of drug effects and addiction on neural and cognitive function due to their tractability to cell‑biological, pharmacological and molecular̴...
Nitric Oxide in Lower Invertebrates
Marco Colasanti and Giorgio Venturini
Nitric oxide (NO) is considered an important signaling molecule involved in many different physiological processes, including nervous transmission, vascular regulation, immune defense and in the patho...
Planaria as Model in Drug Abuse Research
Robert B. Raffa
In some complex way, drug abuse is a physiological process that involves the modulation or alteration of one or more neurochemical pathways. These pathways are reviewed in this chapter to the extent t...
Physical Dependence and Withdrawal in Planarians
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A quantifiable feature of drug abuse in animal models is the development of physical dependence and its expression during withdrawal (either abstinence‑ or antagonist‑induced). Withdrawal ...
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Planarians are free‑living, nonparasitic, bilaterally symmetrical flatworms (dorsoventrally flattened). They range in size from about 3 to about 15 mm and are found throughout the world. There a...
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Brain and Neural Networks
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Freshwater planarians have a relatively well‑organized central nervous system (CNS), which consists of the brain and the ventral nerve cords (VNCs). Recently, several neural marker genes have be...
