| hirudo | <zoology> A genus of leeches, including the common medicinal leech. See Leech. Origin: L, a leech. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
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| Hirudo medicinalis | The medicinal leech. The CNS of this annelid contains a relatively small number of large, identifiable cells. This has made the leech, like the molluscs Aplysia and Helisoma, a chosen preparation for studying nervous system mechanisms at the cellular level. Related species of leeches are the organism of choice for cellular and molecular genetic studies of early development, since the early embryos also contain identifiable cells. (18 Nov 1997) |