Brains of Primitive Chordates

J.C Glover; B Fritzsch

doi:10.1016/B978-008045046-9.00945-1

Back

Book chapter

Brains of Primitive Chordates

J.C Glover and B Fritzsch

Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, pp.439-448

2010

DOI: 10.1016/B978-008045046-9.00945-1

View Online

Abstract

The anatomical and molecular organization of ‘primitive’ chordate nervous systems is reviewed in the context of potential evolutionary relationships to craniates. Also included, as a link from more primitive deuterostomes, are the hemichordates, which share certain chordate features. The central nervous systems of these taxa show a variety of forms, from a hardly specialized basiepithelial nerve plexus (hemichordates) to a few small ganglia with a tail nerve cord (urochordate larvae), a spinal cord with a barely recognizable cerebral vesicle (cephalochordates), and a fully developed brain and spinal cord (craniates). Despite these overall differences, similarities at the level of regional molecular patterning suggest that chordate nervous system diversity represents variations on a theme that was already established in the last common ancestor.

Chordate

Spinal cord

Urochordate

Nerve cord

Motor neuron

Deuterostome

Hemichordate

Cyclostome

Neural crest

Placode

Cephalochordate

Vertebrate

Evolution

Notochord

Craniate

Details

Title: Subtitle: Brains of Primitive Chordates
Creators: J.C Glover - University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
B Fritzsch - Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA
Resource Type: Book chapter
Publication Details: Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, pp.439-448
DOI: 10.1016/B978-008045046-9.00945-1
Language: English
Date published: 2010
Academic Unit: Iowa Neuroscience Institute; Biology; Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center
Record Identifier: 9984070209302771

Metrics

37 Record Views