Motor neural networks in the leech

This brief review article summarizes how research on Hirudo verbana has contributed to understanding of motor control, describing network-level and individual-neuron perspectives on the leech's robust motor patterns within its relatively simple, well-characterized nervous system. For ASH's domain, this article is relevant only insofar as it concerns the medicinal leech as a neurobiological model organism. However, the content addresses fundamental motor neuroscience and neural network architecture; it does not discuss leech therapy, salivary bioactive compounds, secretome, or any clinical application. Therefore, its relevance to hirudotherapy practice or the leech secretome is negligible, and its inclusion would be justified only as background on the leech as a research organism.