BACKGROUND Invertebrate worms serve as models for understanding the features of neurological functions. Acrylamide (ACR), the well-known neurotoxin, is a water-soluble chemical widely used in various industrial and laboratory processes. ACR is also found in food items which are cooked under high temperature. PURPOSE The study attempts to assess the neuropathological changes in cerebral gangli...

The giant extracellular hemoglobin of the earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris, has four major O2-binding chains, a, b, and c (forming a disulfide-linked trimer) and d ("monomer"). Participation of additional "linker" chains L1, L2, and L3 is necessary for the assembly of the approximately 3,900+ kDa two-tiered hexagonal structure. We have determined the proportions of linker chains, trimer, and cha...

The protein/heme mass ratio for the extracellular hemoglobin of the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris has been redetermined. We find a value of 19,000 g of protein per mol of heme. Four major, heme-containing chains (a, b, c, and d), present in equal proportions, have a total molecular mass, with four hemes, of 69,664 Da based on their sequences. The intact hemoglobin comprises 12 subunits that fo...

The presence of deep-burrowing earthworms can affect soil structure and in®ltration, therefore in ̄uencing agricultural productivity. We investigated the effects of deep-burrowing earthworm species on soil structure at the surface of chisel-plowed or ridge-tilled cropping systems in Pike County, OH, planted to corn (Zea mays L.). Earthworm populations were experimentally manipulated in ®eld encl...

Toxic effects of cadmium (Cd), a common soil pollutant, are still not very well understood, particularly in regard to its epigenetic impact. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess DNA methylation changes and their persistence in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris upon chronic low dose Cd exposure using methylation sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP). Moreover, the biomarker resp...

This study examined the relationship between ontogenetic increase in body size and the kinematics of peristaltic locomotion by the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris, a soft-bodied organism supported by a hydrostatic skeleton. Whereas the motions of most vertebrates and arthropods are based primarily on the changes in the joint angles between rigid body segments, the motions of soft-bodied organism...