Crustacean cardioactive peptide-immunoreactive neurons in the ventral nerve cord and the brain of the meal beetle Tenebrio molitor during postembryonic development

• By use of an antiserum against the crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP) several types of bilaterally symmetrical neurons were mapped quantitatively in the ventral nerve cord and brain of Tenebrio molitor. The general architecture of these neurons was reconstructed. From the suboesophageal to the 7th abdominal ganglia 2 types of neurons showed a repetitive organization of contralateral projection patterns in each neuromere. The first type had few branches in the central neuropil and a distinct peripheral projection. The 2nd type was characterized by an elaborate central branching pattern, which included ascending and descending processes. Some of its peripheral branches supplied peripheral neurohaemal areas. In the protocerebrum, 10 CCAP-immunoreactive neurons occurred with projections into the superior median protocerebrum and the tritocerebrum. Immunopositive neurons were mapped in larvae, pupae and adults. All types of identified neurons persisted throughout metamorphosis, maintaining their essential structural and topological characteristics. The CCAP-immunoreactive neurons of T. molitor were compared with those described for Locusta migratoria. Putative structural homologies of subsets of neurons in both species are discussed.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Zoologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Zoology (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Morphology

Morfologi

morfologisk zoologi med utvecklingsbiologisk inriktning

morfologisk zoologi med utvecklingsbiologisk inriktning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)