Multiple Longitudinal Tracts in the Cephalopod Arm Sensorimotor System
Cassady S Olson, Clifton W Ragsdale · 2026
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Description
Cassady Olson and Clifton Ragsdale study the nerve tracts that run along an octopus arm. Their 2026 paper deals with the axial nerve cord, a structure like a spinal cord that sits in the center of the arm and controls complex movement.
Each arm is highly flexible and holds hundreds of suckers, so coordination is a major task. A large fiber bundle, the cerebrobrachial tract, links the arms and the brain. The authors asked whether the cord also has intrinsic longitudinal connections, like the spinospinal links in vertebrates. With tract tracing and immunohistochemistry, they found that the cord neuropil is enriched in such tracts, supporting coordinated arm and sucker motion.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Cassady S Olson, Clifton W Ragsdale |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 58 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |