QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Reischig, T. Articles by Stengl, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Reischig, T. Articles by Stengl, M. Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

The Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 1877-1886 (2003)
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00373

Ectopic transplantation of the accessory medulla restores circadian locomotor rhythms in arrhythmic cockroaches (Leucophaea maderae)

Thomas Reischig and Monika Stengl^*

Biology, Animal Physiology, Philipps Universität Marburg, Karl von Frisch Str., D-35041 Marburg, Germany

^* Author for correspondence (e-mail: stengl{at}staff.uni-marburg.de)

Accepted 11 March 2003

The presence of an endogenous circadian clock in the brain of an animal was first demonstrated in the cockroach Leucophaea maderae. However, the clock's cellular basis remained elusive until pigment-dispersing hormone-immunoreactive neurons, which express the clock genes period and timeless in Drosophila, were proposed as pacemaker candidates. In several insect species, pigment-dispersing hormone-immunoreactive neurons are closely associated with the accessory medulla, a small neuropil in the optic lobe, which was suggested to be a circadian clock neuropil. Here, we demonstrate that ectopic transplantation of adult accessory medulla into optic lobe-less cockroaches restores circadian locomotor activity rhythms in L. maderae. All histologically examined cockroaches that regained circadian activity regenerated pigment-dispersing hormone-immunoreactive fibres from the grafts to original targets in the protocerebrum. The data show that the accessory medulla is the circadian pacemaker controlling locomotor activity rhythms in the cockroach. Whether pigment-dispersing hormone-immunoreactive neurons are the only circadian pacemaker cells controlling locomotor activity rhythms remains to be examined.

Key words: circadian rhythm, accessory medulla, locomotor activity rhythm, pigment-dispersing hormone neuron, pacemaker, cockroach, Leucophaea maderae

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C.-M. Lee, M.-T. Su, and H.-J. Lee Pigment Dispersing Factor: An Output Regulator of the Circadian Clock in the German Cockroach J Biol Rhythms, February 1, 2009; 24(1): 35 - 43. [Abstract] [PDF]

				A. J. Farca Luna, J. I. Hurtado-Zavala, T. Reischig, and R. Heinrich Circadian Regulation of Agonistic Behavior in Groups of Parthenogenetic Marbled Crayfish, Procambarus sp. J Biol Rhythms, February 1, 2009; 24(1): 64 - 72. [Abstract] [PDF]

				S. Hofer and U. Homberg Evidence for a role of orcokinin-related peptides in the circadian clock controlling locomotor activity of the cockroach Leucophaea maderae J. Exp. Biol., July 15, 2006; 209(14): 2794 - 2803. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N.-L. Schneider and M. Stengl Gap Junctions Between Accessory Medulla Neurons Appear to Synchronize Circadian Clock Cells of the Cockroach Leucophaea maderae J Neurophysiol, March 1, 2006; 95(3): 1996 - 2002. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N.-L. Schneider and M. Stengl Pigment-Dispersing Factor and GABA Synchronize Cells of the Isolated Circadian Clock of the Cockroach Leucophaea maderae J. Neurosci., May 25, 2005; 25(21): 5138 - 5147. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]