Figure 5.

L1 cholinergic recovery can be modified by compounds with muscarinic activity. A: The recovery from Ald-induced paralysis is suppressed by the mAChR antagonist Atr. L1 worms were treated with 4 mM Ald along with a range of doses of Atropine (Atr); FMS was measured every 5 minutes over a 3 hour time course. B: gar-3 mutants show greatly reduced recovery from Ald-induced paralysis. Wild-type L1 animals, or L1 worms homozygous for mutations in either gar-1, gar-2, or gar-3 were exposed to 4 mM Ald and FMS measured across a 3 hour time course. C: Aldicarb induces recovery from nicotine-induced paralysis in L1 larvae. Various concentrations of aldicarb were combined with a concentration of nicotine sufficient to cause sustained paralysis (10 mM, shown in blue). Increasing concentrations of aldicarb stimulated increasing degrees of recovery from paralysis. D: The mAChR-specific agonist OxoM similarly stimulates recovery from Nic-induced paralysis. L1 animals were treated with 10 mM Nic combined with a range of concentrations of OxoM. E: OxoM-induced recovery in L1 worms requires gar-3: Wild-type animals, or worms homozygous for mutations in either gar-1, gar-2, or gar-3 were exposed to 10 mM Nic and 10 mM OxoM and FMS was measured across a 3 hour time course. The shaded portion represents the range of responses of N2, gar-1, gar-2 and gar-3 to nicotine in the absence of OxoM. (A-E) All data are means of 4 independent experiments, normalized to no drug controls. Error bars show standard error of the mean. F: OxoM-does not induce recovery from Ald- induced paralysis in adult worms: Adult worms were exposed to 5mM Ald, with or without 10mM OxoM. Adult worms fail to recover within the course of the experiment under either condition. Data are means of three independent experiments; error bars show standard error of the mean.