Extirpation and transplantation of the brain of the snail Helix aspersa: a study of the survival of the animal and the implant

Abstract

Dormant, hibernating snails whose brains (supraoesophageal cerebral ganglia and associated dorsal bodies) were removed by surgery continued to live retracted in their shells. The remaining ganglia of the circumoesophageal ring did not regenerate in the 12 months following the removal of the brain. The transplanted brains in the haemocoel (auto- or allo-graft) were not rejected and many of their cerebral neurosecretory cells and the endocrine dorsal bodies appeared normal structurally and functionally, as evidenced by ultrastructural and immunocytochemical studies. The data from these experiments demonstrate the possibility of studying by in vivo culture methods the roles of cerebral ganglia and endocrine dorsal bodies on the control of reproduction under different temperature regimes.