IN-VIVO EFFECTS OF ALLATOSTATINS IN CRICKETS, GRYLLUS-BIMACULATUS (ENSIFERA, GRYLLIDAE)

Two types of cricket allatostatins, Grb-AST A1 and Grb-AST B1, were in jected into adult female crickets three times each day on days 0-3 and once on day 4 after adult emergence to test their activity in vivo. O n day 4, body weight, ovary weight, number of eggs per ovary, length o f the terminal oocytes, ovarian ecdysteroid biosynthesis, and hemolymp h titers of ecdysteroids were lower in the allatostatin-injected anima ls compared with untreated and Ringer-injected controls. Effects of th e injected allatostatins on hemolymph juvenile hormone titers were inh omogeneous, and no differences were found in the Capacity of the corpo ra allata to produce juvenile hormone ex vivo. The hemolymph titers of yolk proteins (vitellogenins) were almost twice as high in the allato statin-injected animals as in the control animals. The effects of the injected allatostatins and their interactions with the endocrine syste m of the animal are discussed. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.