Fig. 3
Starved animals maintain characteristic behaviors. a,b Quantification of the number of longitudinal and tripolar neurons in individual animals following each poking experiment. The numbers of both longitudinal and tripolar neurons significantly decreased after 7 weeks starvation (a t16 = 7.97, p < 0.001; b t16 = 6.99, p < 0.001. Both n = 17). c,d Peristaltic waves still occurred in all animals starved for 7 and 11 weeks (c t11 = 3.45, p = 0.005; d t11 = 2.92, p = 0.014. Both n = 12). e–g A normally fed animal responded to the touch stimulus from a toothpick by retracting its tentacles and oral region. h–j Following 7 weeks starvation, the same animal again responded to being touched with a toothpick by retracting its tentacles and oral region. Data points are means ± SEM, *p ≤ 0.05