An immunohistochemical analysis of peptidergic neurons apparently associated with reproduction and growth in Biomphalaria alexandrina.

Peptide hormones and neurotransmitters involved in reproduction and growth have been studied extensively in certain gastropod molluscs, such as Lymnaea stagnalis and Aplysia californica. The present study employs antisera that have been used to study peptidergic neurons in those species to probe the central nervous system of another gastropod, Biomphalaria alexandrina, an intermediate host of the parasitic trematode that causes schistosomiasis in humans. Whole mount preparations of central ganglia were stained immunohistochemically, and several populations of neurons appeared to be homologous to those forming the neuroendocrine axis that has been previously described in L.