Abstract
A description is given of crustacean chemosensory systems and the neurophysiological procedures used to study them. Their response properties and tuning characteristics are discussed. A review is then provided of specific crustacean chemoreceptors that are stimulated selectively by either purine nucleotides, taurine, glutamate, or glycine, all of which have neuroactive properties in internal tissues. Two distinctly different types of purinergic chemoreceptors occur on the antennules of the spiny lobster. P1-like chemoreceptors have a potency sequence of AMP greater than ADP greater than ATP greater than adenosine and show a strict structural requirement for the ribose phosphate moiety. P2-like chemoreceptors have a potency sequence of ATP greater than ADP greater than AMP or adenosine and show a broad sensitivity to nucleotide triphosphates with modifications in both the purine and ribose phosphate moieties. Sensilla containing the dendrites of chemosensory neurons also possess an ectonucleotidase(s) that inactivates excitatory nucleotides to yield adenosine which is subsequently internalized by a sensillar uptake system. Narrowly tuned taurinergic chemoreceptors are present on both the antennules and legs of lobsters. Although taurine itself is the most effective stimulant, the taurine analogs hypotaurine and beta-alanine are also very excitatory. Structure-activity studies indicate these chemoreceptors have marked similarities to taurine-sensitive systems in internal tissues of vertebrates. By contrast, comparative studies of glutamatergic chemoreceptors on the legs of lobsters indicate response spectra different from those of the glutamate receptors in lobster neuromuscular junctions and the three classes of excitatory amino acid receptors identified internally in vertebrates. Crustacean chemoreceptors for glycine, ecdysteroids, and pyridine are also described. The hypothesis that receptors for internal neuroactive agents may have originally evolved as external chemoreceptors of primitive aquatic organisms is discussed.