...Dean C. Semmens; Robyn E. Dane; Mahesh R. Pancholi; Susan E. Slade; James H. Scrivens; Maurice R. Elphick SUMMARY Feeding in starfish is a remarkable process in which the cardiac stomach is everted over prey and then retracted when prey tissue has been resorbed. Previous studies have revealed...

... with motility activation through increasing [pH] i , but little attention has been given to the cAMP-independent phosphorylation also induced by the[pH] i increase. The present study demonstrates that the increase in[pH] i in starfish sperm induces the phosphorylation of axonemal proteins and activation...

...Richard Melarange; Maurice R. Elphick SUMMARY Previous studies have established that the gaseous signalling molecule nitric oxide (NO) and the SALMFamide neuropeptides S1 and S2 cause cardiac stomach relaxation in the starfish Asterias rubens . Here we show that S1, S2 and the NO donor SNAP also...

... of muscles, whether associated with the body wall skeleton and its appendages or with visceral organs, are made up of non-striated fibres. The mechanisms by which the nervous system controls muscle relaxation in echinoderms were, until recently, unknown. Using the cardiac stomach of the starfish Asterias...

...Richard L. Miller; Richard Vogt ABSTRACT Freshwater extracts of starfish ovaries were used to purify the sperm-attracting peptide ‘startrak’ from Pycnopodia helianthoides using hydrophobic interaction chromatography and DEAE–high-pressure liquid chromatography. Partially purified attractant had...

...Maurice R. Elphick; Suzanna J. Newman; Michael C. Thorndyke ABSTRACT The SALMFamides S1 and S2 are two structurally related neuropeptides that are present in starfish, and which share the C-terminal amino acid sequence S X L X Famide, where X is variable. To establish the distribution of S1 and S2...

...Zhenpeng Zhuang; Jeffrey M. Duerr; Gregory A. Ahearn ABSTRACT 45 Ca 2+ uptake by purified brush-border membrane vesicles of starfish ( Pycnopodia helianthoides ) pyloric ceca was stimulated by an outwardly directed H + gradient and this stimulation was enhanced by the simultaneous presence...

...Gregory A. Ahearn; Pierette Franco ABSTRACT Purified brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV) of starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides) pyloric caecal epithelium were prepared by a magnesium precipitation technique in order to compare the properties of Na + /H + exchange in this invertebrate tissue...

...Gregory A. Ahearn; Rachel D. Behnke ABSTRACT Purified brush-border membrane vesicles (BBMV) of starfish [ Pycnopodia helianthoides (Brandt)] pyloric caecal epithelium were prepared by magnesium precipitation in order to characterize the possible role of this organ in amino acid transport. L-[ 3 H...