Regeneration of axons and nerve cell bodies in the CNS of annelids

Abstract

The neuron addition hypothesis predicts that species that add CNS neurons during a particular ontogenetic stage should regenerate ablated somata better than species that add few, if any, neurons to the CNS during that same stage. We report that CNS nerve cells do not regenerate in three species of adult (reproductively competent) leeches (Hirudo medicinalis, Haemopus grande, and Macrobdella decora), which do not increase the number of neurons in any portion of the CNS. Nereis virens, a polychaete that adds CNS neurons to newly forming ganglia in the adult stage, also does not regenerate CNS neurons. Conversely, CNS neurons, including a pair of uniquely identifiable somata, do regenerate in Clymenella torquata, a polychaete that has a constant number of neurons in the adult stage. Hence, the results of our study suggest that several versions of the neuron addition hypothesis cannot predict CNS regenerative abilities in adult annelids. Finally, we report that severed stumps of CNS axons do not degenerate rapidly in Nereis or Clymenella, and that both species can regenerate severed CNS axons presumably by morphologic fusion or physiologic activation of surviving stumps.