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Review
. 1988 Jun;258(6):98-103.
doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0688-98.

The neurobiology of feeding in leeches

C M Lent  1 , M H Dickinson
Affiliations
Review

The neurobiology of feeding in leeches

C M Lent et al. Sci Am. 1988 Jun.

Abstract

How does a simple nervous system control a behavior? In the bloodsucking medicinal leech a single neurotransmitter, serotonin, has been found to orchestrate the animal's search for a target, the movements of its jaws, the filling of its crop and even the distension of its body that eventually tells the leech enough is enough.

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