Journal article
On being a Hydra with, and without, a nervous system: what do neurons add?
Animal cognition, Vol.26(6), pp.1799-1816
11/01/2023
DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01816-8
PMCID: PMC10770230
PMID: 37540280
Abstract
The small freshwater cnidarian Hydra has been the subject of scientific inquiry for over 300 years due to its remarkable regenerative capacities and apparent immortality. More recently, Hydra has been recognized as an excellent model system within neuroscience because of its small size, transparency, and simple nervous system, which allow high-resolution imaging of its entire nerve net while behaving. In less than a decade, studies of Hydra's nervous system have yielded insights into the activity of neural circuits in vivo unobtainable in most other animals. In addition to these unique attributes, there is yet another lesser-known feature of Hydra that makes it even more intriguing: it does not require its neural hardware to live. The extraordinary ability to survive the removal and replacement of its entire nervous system makes Hydra uniquely suited to address the question of what neurons add to an extant organism. Here, I will review what early work on nerve-free Hydra reveals about the potential role of the nervous system in these animals and point towards future directions for this work.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- On being a Hydra with, and without, a nervous system: what do neurons add?
- Creators
- Alison Hanson - Columbia University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Animal cognition, Vol.26(6), pp.1799-1816
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10071-023-01816-8
- PMID
- 37540280
- PMCID
- PMC10770230
- NLM abbreviation
- Anim Cogn
- ISSN
- 1435-9448
- eISSN
- 1435-9456
- Grant note
- K99 NS127851-01 / NIH HHS K99 NS127851 / NINDS NIH HHS
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 11/01/2023
- Academic Unit
- Psychiatry
- Record Identifier
- 9984823121702771
Metrics
11 Record Views