Neuronal development in larval polychaete Phyllodoce maculata (Phyllodocidae)

The existing view on neuronal development in polychaetes, as undergoing neurogenesis beginning in the rudiments of central ganglia and then extending peripherally, has been contrasted with the latest findings in molluscs, their sister trochozoan group, which show a peripheral to central mode of neurogenesis. The current study addresses this issue by examining early neuronal development in the polychaete Phyllodoce maculata using immunolabeling against acetylated α-tubulin, serotonin, and the FMRFamide. The first nervous cell was detected 20 hours before hatching, at the early trochophore stage. A solitary serotonergic neuron was located at the posterior-dorsal extreme of the larva and issued anterior projecting fibers, which outline the future ventral nerve cords and prototroch nerve. Two more serotonergic dorsal peripheral cells and three peripheral FMRFamidergic cells appeared soon thereafter. The fibers of these early cells formed a scaffolding, which prefigured the future adult nervous system (cerebral ganglion, ventral cords, prototroch and esophageal nerve rings) in prehatched trochophores. Shortly before hatching, the larval nervous system developed, including the apical organ, meridianal nerves in the episphere, and posttrochal nerves that innervate the feeding apparatus. After hatching, the rudiments of the adult nervous system started to develop along the paths already established by the earliest peripheral neurons. Thus, the general strategy of neurogenesis in a representative polychaete trochophore appears to resemble that of molluscs. The first neuronal cells to appear are peripheral in origin, located near the posterior margins of the embryo. Their similar anatomical appearance suggests that they share a similar functional role in trochophore development and behavior. J. Comp. Neurol. 455:299–309, 2003. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.