Paramecium is an excitable unicellular eukaryote that swims in fresh water by beating its cilia. This journal explores Paramecium biology from a neuroscience perspective.
Editor Romain Brette
Attempts to retreat from a dead-ended long capillary by backward swimming in Paramecium (2014)
Itsuki Kunita, Shigeru Kuroda, Kaito Ohki, Toshiyuki Nakagaki
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24966852
Nov 18, 2020 - This paper reports an interesting behavior, where Paramecium escapes from a narrow capillary by swimming backward for a long time. A single paramecium (species is not given, but I presume from the size that it is P. caudatum) is placed in a thin capillary (80 µm inner diameter), so...
Swimming behavior regulation by GABAB receptors in Paramecium (2003)
Paola Ramoino, Paola Fronte, Francesco Beltrame, Alberto Diaspro, Marco Fato, Luca Raiteri, Sara Stigliani, Cesare Usai
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14644161
Nov 18, 2020 - This paper shows that Paramecium has GABAB receptors that can influence its behavior. The presence of those receptors is shown by immunochemistry. Using agonists, it is found that their activation inhibits the avoiding reaction; specifically, it reduces the duration of backward swi...
Apparent learning in the paramecium (1958)
Milton S. Katz, William A. Deterline
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13525498
Nov 03, 2020 - This study aims at understanding the basis of an apparent learning phenomenon reported by Gelber (1952). A platinum wire is lowered into a depression slide with paramecia for 15 seconds, then raised for 25 seconds, and this is repeated 40 times. Every third trial, the wire is baite...
Classical conditioning in paramecia (1979)
Todd M. Hennessey, William B. Rucker, Colin G. McDiarmid
6 comments on PubPeer • http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/bf03209695
Sep 01, 2020 - This paper demonstrates quite convincingly, in my view, a case of classical conditioning in Paramecium caudatum (although I find that it is not a very easy read). Paramecia are mechanically stimulated by a speaker below the slide for 4 s (playing a 300-500 Hz tone). In the last 2 s...
Discrimination Learning in Paramecia (P. caudatum) (2006)
Harvard L. Armus, Amber R. Montgomery, Jenny L. Jellison
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf03396029
Aug 30, 2020 - In the 20th century, there have been many attempts to demonstrate learning in Paramecium, but they have been controversial. In a 1979 review, here is how Applewhite introduced the subject: “I like protozoa, but they do not like me”, and it is worth quoting his conclusion in full: “...
http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajplegacy.1899.2.4.355
May 25, 2020 - In this paper, Jennings studies chemotaxis in more detail. By “chemotaxis”, it is simply meant that paramecia tend to gather in certain substances and avoid others. This occurs mostly through the avoiding reaction. When Paramecium encounters an alkaline solution such as sodium chlo...
H. S. JENNINGS, CLARA JAMIESON
http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1535876
Apr 23, 2020 - This is a rather surprising study. To understand how the different parts of the cell contributes to Paramecium’s behavior, Jennings and Jamieson decide to cut paramecia in two “with a small knife” (no more details!). They find that the anterior and posterior halves basically behave...
http://dx.doi.org/10.1152/ajplegacy.1899.2.4.311
Apr 22, 2020 - This is the second of a series of 10 papers on unicellular organisms published between 1897 and 1902. This paper describes in much detail the avoiding reaction of Paramecium, and how it is involved in behavior. When Paramecium comes in contact with a stimulus, be it an obstacle, so...
Spontaneous alternation behavior in Paramecium (2006)
Alan W. Harvey, Nyron K. A. Bovell
http://dx.doi.org/10.3758/bf03193200
Apr 21, 2020 - Lepley and Rice (1952) were astonished to observe that when put a maze, paramecia tend to alternate between left and right turns. This is usually considered as a behavioral marker of short-term memory. I quote the introduction: “The writers submit the following somewhat unconventio...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16992389
Apr 20, 2020 - I believe this is the first paper by Jennings on Paramecium. Jennings is best known for his wonderful 1906 book, Behavior of the lower organisms, but he has written many detailed papers on the behavior of Paramecium and other unicellular organisms (see this collection of papers). J...
Ueber den Thermotropismus einzelliger Organismen (1895)
M. Mendelssohn
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf01661667
Apr 17, 2020 - This is the first detailed behavioral study of Paramecium thermotaxis (note that as I am not a German speaker, this review is based on an automatic translation). When placed in a temperature gradient, paramecia tend to gather in regions at 24-28 °C. Thus, they display both positive...
Untersuchungen über den Galvanotropismus (1895)
Karl Ludloff
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf01789963
Apr 16, 2020 - This is the first detailed paper on Paramecium galvanotaxis (note that as I am not a German speaker, this review is based on an automatic translation). When paramecia are subjected to a continuous electrical field of sufficient amplitude (roughly 500 V/m), they align with the field...
Ueber den Geotropismus niederer Organismen (1893)
Paul Jensen
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/bf01706283
Apr 15, 2020 - When put at the bottom of a tube, Paramecium quickly swim up to the top, a phenomenon called (negative) gravitaxis. There have been many studies of Paramecium gravitaxis, but this one is the first thorough study on the subject. Jensen also discusses gravitaxis in other microorganis...
Behavioral genetics of Paramecium (1987)
Yoshiro Saimi, Ching Kung
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2450523
Nov 11, 2019 - This is a review of the fantastic work that has been done using classical genetics to understand the electrophysiology (and more) of Paramecium. It is based on designing various types of behavioral screens, for example picking up Paramecia from the top of a flask filled with a solu...
Transitions between three swimming gaits in Paramecium escape (2011)
Amandine Hamel, Cathy Fisch, Laurent Combettes, Pascale Dupuis-Williams, Charles N. Baroud
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21464291
Nov 06, 2019 - Two typical elementary behaviors of Paramecium are usually reported in the literature: the avoiding reaction and the escape reaction. In the avoiding reaction, Paramecium touches an obstacle with its anterior end, or enters a repelling medium, and sensory transduction triggers an a...
Bioelectric control of ciliary activity (1972)
Roger Eckert
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/5032346
Oct 15, 2019 - This is a review of Paramecium electrophysiology and its relation with motility. When stimulated electrically, the membrane produces a graded calcium-based action potential, through voltage-gated channels located in the cilia. When calcium enters the cilia, the cilia reorient, whic...