FATE OF ABDOMINAL VENTRAL UNPAIRED MEDIAN CELLS DURING METAMORPHOSIS OF THE HAWKMOTH, MANDUCA-SEXTA

Citation
Hj. Pfluger et al., FATE OF ABDOMINAL VENTRAL UNPAIRED MEDIAN CELLS DURING METAMORPHOSIS OF THE HAWKMOTH, MANDUCA-SEXTA, Journal of comparative neurology, 335(4), 1993, pp. 508-522
Citations number
62
Categorie Soggetti
Clinical Neurology
ISSN journal
00219967
Volume
335
Issue
4
Year of publication
1993
Pages
508 - 522
Database
ISI
SICI code
0021-9967(1993)335:4<508:FOAVUM>2.0.ZU;2-5
Abstract
Each of the unfused abdominal ganglia in the larval, pupal, and adult stages of the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta, has two large ventral median ne urons with axons that bifurcate to innervate targets on both sides of the abdomen. Although the dendritic structures of the two neurons are similar, their axons branch to innervate distinct sets of target muscl es. During metamorphosis both neurons undergo dendritic regression, fo llowed by growth of new arborizations during adult development. The ne urons must innervate different targets in the larva and adult, since m any larval muscles degenerate and are replaced during metamorphosis. B oth neurons were reactive with an antibody to the neuromodulatory comp ound, octopamine, in the larval and adult stages. Pairwise intracellul ar recordings in isolated nerve cords revealed spontaneous excitatory synaptic potentials that occurred in the ventral median neurons of eac h ganglion in an anterior-to-posterior sequence. The synaptic potentia ls were eliminated when the interganglionic connective was interrupted posterior to the subesophageal ganglion. The ventral median neurons w ere also excited by tactile stimulation of the body surface in larvae, pupae and adults. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.