Type: Sensory neuron (thermosensory/ thermonociceptor, mechanosensory?)
Connectivity:
- In MoW: PHC
- In WormWiring: PHCL_h, PHCR_h, PHCL_m, PHCR_m
- In Nemanode: PHC
In Wormbase: PHC, PHCL, PHCR
Lineage: TL.pppaa, TR.pppaa
Location: Right and left lumbar ganglia
Description: Possibly sensory in tail spike. PHC neurons contain striated rootlets in the male but not in the hermaphrodite (Sulston et al., 1980). Postembryonically born.
Neurotransmitter/ Neuropeptide:
- Betaine
- Glutamate
(Wang et al., 2024; Pereira et al., 2015)

Innexin expression:
- INX-1a
- INX-1b
- INX-7
- INX-10a
- INX-11
- INX-14
- INX-19
- UNC-7
- UNC-9
(Bhattacharya et al., 2019)
Receptor expression:
- DOP-1; dopamine receptor
(Sanyal et al., 2004)
Function:
- Thermonociception & temperature avoidance response; along with AFD and FLP neurons (in the head), PHC neurons (in the tail) sense noxious temperatures (~35-38^oC), inducing a reflex-like escape reaction. This avoidance response requires the cell autonomous function of cGMP dependent Cyclic Nucleotide-Gated channels (TAX-2, TAX-4) in AFD, and the heat- and capsaicin-sensitive Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid (TRPV) channels (OCR-2/OSM-9) in the FLP and PHC neurons (Liu et al., 2012).
- Structure and location suggests mechanosensory function
Reporters:
- At CGC:
- Other: