Neural control of heartbeat in the leech and in some other invertebrates
Authors: Stent G. S. , Thompson W. J. , Calabrese R. L. 
Published: December 2017

The heartbeat of the leech Hirudo consists of the contractile rhythm of the circular muscles in the wall of a bilateral pair of celomic sinuses, the heart tubes, that run the length of the leech body. The constriction cycles of the segmental heart-tube sections are coordinated so that on one body side they constrict in a rear-to-front progression (peristalsis), while on the other side they constrict nearly in concert (nonperistalsis). Spontaneous right-left reciprocal transitions between peristaltic and nonperistaltic coordination modes occur every few dozen heartbeat cycles. The constriction of each segmental heart-tube section is controlled via excitatory synapses by a rhythmically active heart motor neuron, or HE cell, of which 17 bilateral pairs are iterated in segmental ganglia of the ventral nerve cord. The activity rhythm of the HE cell ensemble is in turn controlled via inhibitory synapses by a rhythmically active heart interneuron, the HN cell, of which seven bilateral pairs are iterated in the rostral segmental ganglia. The HN heart interneuron owes its activity rhythm to an endogenous polarization cycle, and the cycles of all members of the HN cell ensemble are locked into an appropriate phase relation thanks to their mutual interconnection via excitatory and inhibitory synaptic connections. The observed activity pattern and identified synaptic connections of HE cells and HN cells can account not only for the generation of the two bilaterally asymmetric heartbeat coordination modes but also for the right-left coordination mode transitions. In contrast to the heartbeat of Hirudo, the beat of the single-chambered heart of the lobsters Panulirus and Homarus is controlled by a set of nine rhythmically active neurons that make up the cardiac ganglion. Of these, five larger cells are heart motor neurons that innervate the heart muscle fibers via excitatory synapses. The remaining four smaller neurons of the cardiac ganglion are interneurons that provide excitatory input to each other and to the heart motor neurons. Although all the neurons of the cardiac ganglion appear capable of producing their own endogenous polarization rhythm, it is currently believed that one of the interneurons acts as a pacemaker for the whole ensemble of interneurons and motor neurons. The beat of the two-chambered heart of the marine snail Aplysia is generated by yet an entirely different mechanism. Here, the basic contractile rhythm of the heart is due to an endogenous polarization cycle of the heart muscle fibers. That myogenic rhythm is controlled and modulated by a set of cardiovascular motor neurons located in the abdominal ganglion, some of which make excitatory and others of which make inhibitory connections with the heart muscle fibers. The activity of these cardiovascular motor neurons is controlled by three types of heart interneurons via both inhibitory and excitatory connections. The interneurons are in turn interconnected in a manner that prevents the simultaneous activation of antagonistic cardiac motor acts...