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Journal of Experimental Biology 136,333-350 (1988)
Published by Company of Biologists 1988

Unpaired Median Neurones in a Lepidopteran Larva (Antheraea Pernyi) : II. Peripheral Effects and Pharmacology

S. J. H. BROOKES ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, UK; Department of Human Physiology, Flinders Medical Centre, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042

Two unpaired median cells (MC1 and MC2) had a temporal pattern of firing that correlated with phasic muscular activity in preparations of larval Antheraea pernyi, and previous work has indicated that the axons of median cells are associated with nerve trunks innervating blocks of muscle. In spite of this, action potentials in median cells were not found to have any one-for-one effects on either the tension or the electrical activity of somatic muscle fibres. However, bursts of action potentials in MC2 were shown to modulate both tension production and electrophysiological activity of a number of motor units. These effects consisted of an increase in twitch tension, a relaxation of basal resting tension, an increase in relaxation rate following contractions, a hyperpolarization of some muscle fibres and an increase in amplitude of excitatory junction potentials. The relative potency of these different effects varied between fast and slow muscles. All of these effects were mimicked by the application of octopamine and synephrine, and in higher concentrations by a number of other biogenic amines and adrenergic agonists. The possibility that the effects of median cell activity were mediated by the release of endogenous octopamine was supported by the observation that phentolamine (10^-5mol l^-1) blocked the effects of both MC2 impulses and the application of exogenous octopamine, whereas propanolol affected neither set of responses. This observation also indicated a pharmacological similarity with a number of other octopamine-sensitive insect tissue preparations. MC1 had similar effects to MC2 on the electrical activity of a number of muscles, suggesting that these two cells play a similar role. These observations provide strong evidence for the presence of an identifiable octopaminergic system of neurones, similar to the dorsal unpaired median (DUM) neurones that have been extensively studied in the locust.

Key words: unpaired median neurones, octopamine, modulation, Lepidoptera

Accepted on January 5, 1988

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