The nervous system of amphioxus: structure, development, and evolutionary significance

Amphioxus neuroanatomy is important not just in its own right but also for the insights it provides regarding the evolutionary origin and basic organization of the vertebrate nervous system. This review summarizes the overall layout of the central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nerves, and nerve plexuses in amphioxus, and what is currently known of their histology and cell types, with special attention to new information on the anterior nerve cord. The intercalated region (IR) is of special functional and evolutionary interest. It extends caudally to the end of somite 4, traditionally considered the limit of the brain-like region of the amphioxus CNS, and is notable for the presence of a number of migrated cell groups. Unlike most other neurons in the cord, these migrated cells detach from the ventricular lumen and move into the adjacent neuropile, much as developing neurons do in vertebrates. The larval nervous system is also considered, as there is a wealth of new data on the organization and cell types of the anterior nerve cord in young larvae, based on detailed electron microscopical analyses and nerve tracing studies, and an emerging consensus regarding how this region relates to the vertebrate brain. Much less is known about the intervening period of the life history, i.e., the period between the young larva and the adult, but a great deal of neural development must occur during this time to generate a fully mature nervous system. It is especially interesting that the vertebrate counterparts of at least some postembryonic events of amphioxus neurogenesis occur, in vertebrates, in the embryo. The implication is that the whole of the postembryonic phase of neural development in amphioxus needs to be considered when making phylogenetic comparisons. Yet this is a period about which almost nothing is known. Considering this, plus the number of new molecular and immunocytochemical techniques now available to researchers, there is no shortage of worthwhile research topics using amphioxus, of whatever stage, as a subject.