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Interactions between earthworm neuroendocrine and immune systems

To the Editor We read with interest the recent paper about the importance of studying invertebrate immuneneuroendocrine functions published in the “Vision and Perspectives” section of Inv. Surv. J. (Ottaviani, 2014). The paper reinforces the profoundly important view that the neuroendocrine and innate defense systems of invertebrates and vertebrates can interact in concerted harmony (Cohen and Kinney, 2007). To consolidate the insights propounded in these seminal articles we would like to advocate earthworms as tractable and powerful models for studies on immuneneuroendocrine interactions. Earthworms are relatively easy to culture and manipulate in the laboratory, and deep knowledge of particular aspects of their physiology and molecular genetics is burgeoning rapidly (Stürzenbaum et al., 2009; Liebeke et al., 2014). Earthworms, as representatives of oligochaete annelids, are metamerically-segmented celomates with a closed circulation and a well-developed nervous system. A segmented celomic cavity communicates with the external environment via dorsal pores, thus the celom ubiquitously contains bacteria, protozoans and fungi, as well as abundant free-floating immunocytes and humoral factors that inhibit microorganism outgrowth (Bilej et al., 2011). In common with other invertebrates, earthworms are devoid of adaptive immunity based on T and B lymphocytes and antibodies; these components are present in jawed vertebrates only. However, the earthworm immune system detects the conserved Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMPs) of microbes by Pathogen Recognition Receptors (PRR), among them the extensively studied Toll-like receptors (Coscia et al., 2011; Skanta et al., 2013). Evidently, earthworms have evolved efficient innate immunity with both cellular and humoral components (Bilej et al., 2011). The immunocytes, according to the term coined out by Ottaviani (2011) for invertebrate cells endowed with attributes _