The Initiation of Action Potentials in the Somatic Musculature of Ascaris Lumbricoides

The results of previous work (DeBell, del Castillo & Sanchez, 1963; del Castillo, de Mello & Morales, 1963) led to the conclusion that the rhythmic action potentials controlling the somatic muscle layer of Ascaris are of myogenic origin, being generated at the muscle syncytium. As shown in Fig. 1, this is a strip of tissue formed by the interlacement of the terminal arborizations of the arms (or innervation processes) that each individual muscle cell sends to either the dorsal or the ventral main nerve cords.