ECLOSION HORMONE-LIKE IMMUNOREACTIVITY IN THE NERVOUS-SYSTEM OF BOMBYX-MORI (LEPIDOPTERA, BOMBYCIDAE) AND ANTHERAEA-YAMAMAI (LEPIDOPTERA, SATURNIIDAE) BEFORE AND AFTER HATCHING

A monoclonal antibody to Bombyx mori eclosion hormone (EH) reacted in whole mounts of the nervous system from pharate and freshly hatched la rvae of this species with 4 ventromedial brain neurons and a pair of n erve fibers runing down the ventral nerve cord. Weak immunoreactivity was occasionally detected in similar whole preparations of the nervous system from Antheraea yamamai. In paraffin sections of the nervous sy stem of A. yamamai, an EH-like antigen was found in 4 ventromedial bra in neurons, in 2 or 3 pairs of neurons in each of the ventral ganglia, and in a pair of nerve fibers extending through the nerve cord. The i ntensity of immunostaining in diapausing and post-diapausing pre-hatch ed larvae, and in the newly hatched first-instar larvae, was similar. Midgut endocrine cells were also examined but no reaction with the ant i-EH antibody was detected.