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Roland Spieß - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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influence of food substrates on the development of the blowflies Calliphora vicina and Calliphora vomitoria diptera calliphoridae
Parasitology Research, 2013Co-Authors: Senta Niederegger, Nelly Wartenberg, Roland Spieß, Gita MallAbstract:The blowflies Calliphora vicina and Calliphora vomitoria are among the first colonizers of human remains in Europe. Laboratory development studies with immature stages of these blowflies for postmortem interval (PMI) calculations are generally performed on different media such as processed food substrates or liver of various animals. The question arises whether these media per se influence the development of larvae and thus PMI calculations? In this systematic approach, the effects of an assortment of food substrates on the development of the larvae were analyzed. C. vomitoria showed much better growth on processed substrates such as beef, pork, turkey, and mixed minced meats than on unprocessed substrates such as beef and pork liver and turkey steak. Beef liver even impeded full development of the species and resulted in death of all individuals. C. vomitoria was therefore categorized as a specialist. Even though mixed minced meat yielded low pupariation rates for C. vicina, the species showed, otherwise, comparable growth rates on all substrates tested and was thus considered to be a generalist. These findings emphasize the importance of parameters besides temperature on the development rates of forensically important fly larvae.
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see the light electrophysiological characterization of the bolwig organ s light response of Calliphora vicina 3rd instar larvae
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2010Co-Authors: Axel Hinnemann, Senta Niederegger, Ulrike Hanslik, Hg Heinzel, Roland SpießAbstract:The anatomy and development of the larval cyclorraphous Diptera visual system is well established. It consists of the internal Bolwig organ (BO), and the associated nerve connecting it to the brain. The BO contributes to various larval behaviors but was never electrophysiologically characterized. We recorded extracellulary from the Bolwig nerve of 3rd instar Calliphora vicina larvae to quantify the sensory response caused by BO stimulation with light stimuli of different wavelengths, intensities and directions. Consistent with previous behavioral experiments we found the BO most sensitive to white and green, followed by blue, yellow, violet and red light. The BO showed a phasic-tonic response curve. Increasing light intensity produced a sigmoid response curve with an approximate threshold of 0.0105 nW/cm(2) and a dynamic range from 0.105 nW/cm(2) to 52.5 nW/cm(2). No differences exist between feeding and wandering larvae which display opposed phototaxis. This excludes reduced BO sensitivity from causing the switch in behavior. Correlating to the morphology of the BO frontal light evoked the maximal reaction, while lateral light reduced the neural response asymmetrically: Light applied ipsilaterally to the recorded BO always produced a stronger response than when applied from the contralateral side. This implies that phototacic behavior is based on a tropotactic mechanism.
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from behavior to fictive feeding anatomy innervation and activation pattern of pharyngeal muscles of Calliphora vicina 3rd instar larvae
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2009Co-Authors: Andreas Schoofs, Senta Niederegger, Roland SpießAbstract:A description of the muscles and nerves involved in feeding of larval Calliphora vicina is given as a prerequisite to establish fictive feeding patterns recorded from the isolated central nervous system. Feeding Diptera larvae show a repetitive sequence of pro- and retraction of the cephalopharyngeal skeleton (CPS), elevation and depression of the mouth hooks and food ingestion. The corresponding pharyngeal muscles are protractors, mouth hook elevators and depressors, the labial retractor and cibarial dilator muscles. These muscles are innervated by the prothoracic accessory nerve (PaN), maxillary nerve (MN) and antennal nerve (AN) as shown electrophysiologically by recording action potentials from the respective nerve that correlate to post-synaptic potentials on the muscles. All three nerves show considerably more complex branching patterns than indicated in the literature. Extracellular recordings from the stumps of PaN, MN and AN connected to an isolated CNS show spontaneous rhythmic motor patterns that reflect the feeding sequence in intact larvae. Variability of the feeding pattern observed in behavioral experiments is also evident from the level of motor output from an isolated CNS. The data obtained from Calliphora will facilitate electrophysiological investigations dealing with the genetic background of feeding behavior in Drosophila larvae.
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Anatomical and functional characterisation of the stomatogastric nervous system of blowfly (Calliphora vicina) larvae.
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2007Co-Authors: Andreas Schoofs, Roland SpießAbstract:The anatomy and functionality of the stomatogastric nervous system (SNS) of third-instar larvae of Calliphora vicina was characterised. As in other insects, the Calliphora SNS consists of several peripheral ganglia involved in foregut movement regulation. The frontal ganglion gives rise to the frontal nerve and is connected to the brain via the frontal connectives and antennal nerves (ANs). The recurrent nerve connects the frontal- to the hypocerebral ganglion from which the proventricular nerve runs to the proventricular ganglion. Foregut movements include rhythmic contractions of the cibarial dilator muscles (CDM), wavelike movements of crop and oesophagus and contractions of the proventriculus. Transections of SNS nerves indicate mostly myogenic crop and oesophagus movements and suggest modulatory function of the associated nerves. Neural activity in the ANs, correlating with postsynaptic potentials on the CDM, demonstrates a motor pathway from the brain to CDM. Crop volume is monitored by putative stretch receptors. The respective sensory pathway includes the recurrent nerve and the proventricular nerve. The dorsal organs (DOs) are directly connected to the SNS. Mechanical stimulation of the DOs evokes sensory activity in the AN. This suggests the DOs can provide sensory input for temporal coordination of feeding behaviour.
D.s. Saunders - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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effects of larval crowding on size and fecundity of the blow fly Calliphora vicina diptera calliphoridae
European Journal of Entomology, 2013Co-Authors: D.s. SaundersAbstract:Increased crowding of larvae of the blow fly, Calliphora vicina, within a standard quantity of meat led to reduced larval and puparial weight, shortened development, reduced adult size, and lowered fecundity. Apparent ''critical weights'' for pupariation in overcrowded cultures were lower than those for larvae manually extracted from under-crowded cultures, suggesting that weight per se is not the decisive factor but - within a rather wide size range - a period of feeding after the moult to the third instar is necessary for onward development to the next instar.
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selection for high diapause incidence in blow flies Calliphora vicina maintained under long days increases the maternal critical daylength some consequences for the photoperiodic clock
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2003Co-Authors: D.s. Saunders, B CymborowskiAbstract:Abstract Using a population of Calliphora vicina from southern Scotland (55 °N), showing a critical day length for maternal induction of diapause of about 14.5 h per day, strains of flies were selected for a high incidence of larval diapause under long day length (LD 16:8 h). Diapause incidence was raised from under 10% to almost 100% within five or six generations. The selected flies showed an increase in their critical day length to over 16 h per day, and a high incidence of larval diapause under very long photophases. Selected flies, however, showed mean circadian periods for locomotor activity little different from the original stock, or from flies selected for high diapause under LD 12:12 h, and a Nanda–Hamner profile lacking peaks and troughs of diapause incidence at about 24 h intervals. These results are interpreted to show that the photoperiodic regulation of diapause and the control of overt behavioural rhythmicity are ‘separate’ physiological systems.
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Geographical strains and selection for the diapause trait in Calliphora vicina
Insect Timing: Circadian Rhythmicity to Seasonality, 2001Co-Authors: D.s. SaundersAbstract:Publisher Summary The blow fly Calliphora vicina is widespread in the Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, where it overwinters in a photoperiodically induced diapause at the end of the third larval instar. Like many insects with a large geographical range, it presents latitudinal clines in diapause-related traits, such as critical day length (CDL). This chapter reviews a paper on geographical strains and selection for the diapause trait in Calliphora vicina. Five strains spanning 36° to 65°N were shown to display such clines in critical day length, diapause duration and, diapause related cold tolerance. Divergent selection for diapause incidence using a diapause-depleted stock restored both a high incidence of diapause and its complete elimination within less than five generations. Reciprocal crossings between northern (65°N) and southern (51°N) strains showed that males contributed nothing to the diapause status of their immediate offspring, and even in later generations and back crosses, the male contribution was less than that of the female. Diapause duration showed contributions from both sexes, suggesting that incidence and duration may be inherited in a different maimer. The chapter also reviews the central problem of photoperiodic time measurement, especially the evidence that night length measurement is a function of the insect's circadian system (Biirming's general hypothesis).
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the blow fly Calliphora vicina a clock work insect
Insect Timing: Circadian Rhythmicity to Seasonality, 2001Co-Authors: D.s. SaundersAbstract:Publisher Summary Endogenous circadian rhythms are the products of natural selection. Circadian rhythms were probably invented by early photosynthetic procaryotes, and evolved in the face of the pervasive environmental fluctuations of light and temperature associated with the rotation of the earth around its axis. The purpose of this chapter is to present defining properties associated with circadian rhythm in an insect that presents robust circadian rhythms and photoperiodic regulation, with both clocks operating simultaneously. The insect of choice is the blow fly or bluebottle, Calliphora vicina. In the adult female fly, a daily rhythm of locomotor activity and the (maternal) photoperiodic induction of larval diapause operate simultaneously, but show features suggesting that although both are circadian based, they are regulated by separate clocks with dissimilar properties. The locomotor activity rhythm freeruns in darkness with a persistent, temperature compensated period (x ∼22.5 hours); the circadian oscillations underlying photoperiodic time measurement, however, show a period closer to 24 hours and evidence of rapid damping. Although both clocks are brain-centered and may be entrained by extraoptic photoreceptors, they are probably located in separate sets of neurons. Circadian rhythmicity is essentially a cellular phenomenon. Nevertheless, light entrainable circadian clocks—apparently independent or semi-independent—exist at all levels of organization: cells, tissues and organs. Such systems have been described, inter alia, in nervous tissue, endocrine glands, gonads, malpighian tubules, and epidermis. Some of these oscillatory components may be truly independent; others may be part of a physiological hierarchy. Insects represent a multioscillator circadian system. Even within the central nervous system that houses circadian clocks responsible for overt behavioural rhythms, pacemakers are of a muhioscillator construction.
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larval diapause duration and fat metabolism in three geographical strains of the blow fly Calliphora vicina
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2000Co-Authors: D.s. SaundersAbstract:Abstract Diapausing larvae of the blow fly, Calliphora vicina , from three geographical strains exposed, as adults, to short days, were maintained under identical conditions (darkness, 11–12°C) and examined for changes in wet weight, dry weight, water and fat content during diapause development to the emergence of post-diapause adults. Larvae produced by flies originating from northern Finland (Nallikari, 65°N) showed a longer, more intense, diapause than those from localities further south (Edinburgh, Scotland, 55°N and Barga, Italy, 44°N), but all three strains showed similar rates of loss of the parameters measured. This was also the case for post-diapause adults, flies of the Barga strain with its relatively short diapause emerging with greater residual fat reserves than flies from the Edinburgh or Nallikari strains with their more protracted diapause. It was concluded that the rates of water and fat loss were functions of the conditions used for diapause larval maintenance (probably temperature) rather than the maternally programmed degree of diapause incidence, or of its ‘depth’ or ‘intensity’.
Michael H. Dickinson - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Neuromuscular control of aerodynamic forces and moments in the blowfly,Calliphora vicina
Journal of Experimental Biology, 2004Co-Authors: Claire N. Balint, Michael H. DickinsonAbstract:Flies are among the most agile of flying insects, a capacity that ultimately results from their nervous system's control over steering muscles and aerodynamic forces during flight. In order to investigate the relationships among neuromuscular control, musculo-skeletal mechanics and flight forces, we captured high-speed, three-dimensional wing kinematics of the blowfly, Calliphora vicina, while simultaneously recording electromyogram signals from prominent steering muscles during visually induced turns. We used the quantified kinematics to calculate the translational and rotational components of aerodynamic forces and moments using a theoretical quasi-steady model of force generation, confirmed using a dynamically scaled mechanical model of a Calliphora wing. We identified three independently controlled features of the wingbeat trajectory – downstroke deviation, dorsal amplitude and mode. Modulation of each of these kinematic features corresponded to both activity in a distinct steering muscle group and a distinct manipulation of the aerodynamic force vector. This functional specificity resulted from the independent control of downstroke and upstroke forces rather than the independent control of separate aerodynamic mechanisms. The predicted contributions of each kinematic feature to body lift, thrust, roll, yaw and pitch are discussed.
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the correlation between wing kinematics and steering muscle activity in the blowfly Calliphora vicina
The Journal of Experimental Biology, 2001Co-Authors: Claire N. Balint, Michael H. DickinsonAbstract:Determining how the motor patterns of the nervous system are converted into the mechanical and behavioral output of the body is a central goal in the study of locomotion. In the case of dipteran flight, a population of small steering muscles controls many of the subtle changes in wing kinematics that allow flies to maneuver rapidly. We filmed the wing motion of tethered Calliphora vicina at high speed and simultaneously recorded multi-channel electromyographic signals from some of the prominent steering muscles in order to correlate kinematics with muscle activity. Using this analysis, we found that the timing of each spike in the basalare muscles was strongly correlated with changes in the deviation of the stroke plane during the downstroke. The relationship was non-linear such that the magnitude of the kinematic response to each muscle spike decreased with increasing levels of stroke deviation. This result suggests that downstroke deviation is controlled in part via the mechanical summation of basalare activity. We also found that interactions among the basalares and muscles III2–III4 determine the maximum forward amplitude of the wingstroke. In addition, activity in muscle I1 appears to participate in a wingbeat gearing mechanism, as previously proposed. Using these results, we have been able to correlate changes in wing kinematics with alteration in the spike rate, firing phase and combinatorial activity of identified steering muscles.
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position specific central projections of mechanosensory neurons on the haltere of the blow fly Calliphora vicina
The Journal of Comparative Neurology, 1996Co-Authors: Wai Pang Chan, Michael H. DickinsonAbstract:The halteres of Dipteran insects play an important role in flight control. They are complex mechanosensory devices equipped with approximately 400 campaniform sensilla, cuticular strain gauges, which are organized into five fields at the base of each haltere. Despite the important role of these mechanosensory structures in flight, the central organization of the sensory afferents originating from the different field campaniforms has not been determined. We show here that in the blow fly, Calliphora vicina, sensory afferents from the campaniform fields project to the thorax in a region‐specific manner. Afferents from different fields have different projection profiles and in addition, the projection pattern of afferents from different regions of the same field may show further variation. However, central target regions of these afferents are not exclusive to particular sensory fields because cells from different fields can possess similar projection profiles. Convergence of afferent projections is not limited to axons from the haltere fields, but is also observed between afferents originating from the haltere fields and those from serially homologous fields on the radial vein of the wing. Although we have not determined the specific cellular targets of the haltere sensory cells, the afferents of a dorsal field could make potential contact with at least one identified wing steering motoneuron that is known to be important in turning maneuvers. Our results, thus, provide the anatomical basis for studying how mechanosensory information encoded by the complex fields on the base of the haltere is mapped onto different functional regions within the CNS.
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modulation of negative work output from a steering muscle of the blowfly Calliphora vicina
The Journal of Experimental Biology, 1994Co-Authors: Michael H. DickinsonAbstract:Of the 17 muscles responsible for flight control in flies, only the first basalar muscle (b1) is known to fire an action potential each and every wing beat at a precise phase of the wing-beat period. The phase of action potentials in the b1 is shifted during turns, implicating the b1 in the control of aerodynamic yaw torque. We used the work loop technique to quantify the effects of phase modulation on the mechanical output of the b1 of the blowfly Calliphora vicina. During cyclic length oscillations at 10 and 50 Hz, the magnitude of positive work output by the b1 was similar to that measured previously from other insect muscles. However, when tested at wing-beat frequency (150 Hz), the net work performed in each cycle was negative. The twitch kinetics of the b1 suggest that negative work output reflects intrinsic specializations of the b1 muscle. Our results suggest that, in addition to a possible role as a passive elastic element, the phase-sensitivity of its mechanical properties may endow the b1 with the capacity to modulate wing-beat kinematics during turning maneuvers.
Senta Niederegger - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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influence of food substrates on the development of the blowflies Calliphora vicina and Calliphora vomitoria diptera calliphoridae
Parasitology Research, 2013Co-Authors: Senta Niederegger, Nelly Wartenberg, Roland Spieß, Gita MallAbstract:The blowflies Calliphora vicina and Calliphora vomitoria are among the first colonizers of human remains in Europe. Laboratory development studies with immature stages of these blowflies for postmortem interval (PMI) calculations are generally performed on different media such as processed food substrates or liver of various animals. The question arises whether these media per se influence the development of larvae and thus PMI calculations? In this systematic approach, the effects of an assortment of food substrates on the development of the larvae were analyzed. C. vomitoria showed much better growth on processed substrates such as beef, pork, turkey, and mixed minced meats than on unprocessed substrates such as beef and pork liver and turkey steak. Beef liver even impeded full development of the species and resulted in death of all individuals. C. vomitoria was therefore categorized as a specialist. Even though mixed minced meat yielded low pupariation rates for C. vicina, the species showed, otherwise, comparable growth rates on all substrates tested and was thus considered to be a generalist. These findings emphasize the importance of parameters besides temperature on the development rates of forensically important fly larvae.
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feel the heat the effect of temperature on development behavior and central pattern generation in 3rd instar Calliphora vicina larvae
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2011Co-Authors: Sebastian Huckesfeld, Senta Niederegger, Hans-georg Heinzel, Philipp Schlegel, Roland SpiesAbstract:Like in all poikilothermic animals, higher temperatures increase developmental rate and activity in Calliphora vicina larvae. We therefore could expect temperature to have a persistent effect on the output of the feeding and crawling central pattern generators (CPGs). When confronted with a steep temperature gradient, larvae show evasive behavior after touching the substrate with the cephalic sense organs. Beside this reflex behavior the terminal- and dorsal organ might also mediate long term CPG modulation. Both organs were thermally stimulated while their response was recorded from the maxillary- or antennal nerve. The terminal organ showed a tonic response characteristic while the dorsal organ was not sensitive to temperature. Thermal stimulation of the terminal organ did not affect the ongoing patterns of fictive feeding or crawling, recorded from the antennal- or abdominal nerve respectively. A selective increase of the central nervous system (CNS) temperature accelerated the motor patterns of both feeding and crawling. We propose that temperature affects centrally generated behavior via two pathways: short term changes like thermotaxis are mediated by the terminal organ, while long term adaptations like increased feeding rate are caused by temperature sensitive neurons in the CNS which were recently shown to exist in Drosophila larvae.
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see the light electrophysiological characterization of the bolwig organ s light response of Calliphora vicina 3rd instar larvae
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2010Co-Authors: Axel Hinnemann, Senta Niederegger, Ulrike Hanslik, Hg Heinzel, Roland SpießAbstract:The anatomy and development of the larval cyclorraphous Diptera visual system is well established. It consists of the internal Bolwig organ (BO), and the associated nerve connecting it to the brain. The BO contributes to various larval behaviors but was never electrophysiologically characterized. We recorded extracellulary from the Bolwig nerve of 3rd instar Calliphora vicina larvae to quantify the sensory response caused by BO stimulation with light stimuli of different wavelengths, intensities and directions. Consistent with previous behavioral experiments we found the BO most sensitive to white and green, followed by blue, yellow, violet and red light. The BO showed a phasic-tonic response curve. Increasing light intensity produced a sigmoid response curve with an approximate threshold of 0.0105 nW/cm(2) and a dynamic range from 0.105 nW/cm(2) to 52.5 nW/cm(2). No differences exist between feeding and wandering larvae which display opposed phototaxis. This excludes reduced BO sensitivity from causing the switch in behavior. Correlating to the morphology of the BO frontal light evoked the maximal reaction, while lateral light reduced the neural response asymmetrically: Light applied ipsilaterally to the recorded BO always produced a stronger response than when applied from the contralateral side. This implies that phototacic behavior is based on a tropotactic mechanism.
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from behavior to fictive feeding anatomy innervation and activation pattern of pharyngeal muscles of Calliphora vicina 3rd instar larvae
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2009Co-Authors: Andreas Schoofs, Senta Niederegger, Roland SpießAbstract:A description of the muscles and nerves involved in feeding of larval Calliphora vicina is given as a prerequisite to establish fictive feeding patterns recorded from the isolated central nervous system. Feeding Diptera larvae show a repetitive sequence of pro- and retraction of the cephalopharyngeal skeleton (CPS), elevation and depression of the mouth hooks and food ingestion. The corresponding pharyngeal muscles are protractors, mouth hook elevators and depressors, the labial retractor and cibarial dilator muscles. These muscles are innervated by the prothoracic accessory nerve (PaN), maxillary nerve (MN) and antennal nerve (AN) as shown electrophysiologically by recording action potentials from the respective nerve that correlate to post-synaptic potentials on the muscles. All three nerves show considerably more complex branching patterns than indicated in the literature. Extracellular recordings from the stumps of PaN, MN and AN connected to an isolated CNS show spontaneous rhythmic motor patterns that reflect the feeding sequence in intact larvae. Variability of the feeding pattern observed in behavioral experiments is also evident from the level of motor output from an isolated CNS. The data obtained from Calliphora will facilitate electrophysiological investigations dealing with the genetic background of feeding behavior in Drosophila larvae.
Andreas Schoofs - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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from behavior to fictive feeding anatomy innervation and activation pattern of pharyngeal muscles of Calliphora vicina 3rd instar larvae
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2009Co-Authors: Andreas Schoofs, Senta Niederegger, Roland SpießAbstract:A description of the muscles and nerves involved in feeding of larval Calliphora vicina is given as a prerequisite to establish fictive feeding patterns recorded from the isolated central nervous system. Feeding Diptera larvae show a repetitive sequence of pro- and retraction of the cephalopharyngeal skeleton (CPS), elevation and depression of the mouth hooks and food ingestion. The corresponding pharyngeal muscles are protractors, mouth hook elevators and depressors, the labial retractor and cibarial dilator muscles. These muscles are innervated by the prothoracic accessory nerve (PaN), maxillary nerve (MN) and antennal nerve (AN) as shown electrophysiologically by recording action potentials from the respective nerve that correlate to post-synaptic potentials on the muscles. All three nerves show considerably more complex branching patterns than indicated in the literature. Extracellular recordings from the stumps of PaN, MN and AN connected to an isolated CNS show spontaneous rhythmic motor patterns that reflect the feeding sequence in intact larvae. Variability of the feeding pattern observed in behavioral experiments is also evident from the level of motor output from an isolated CNS. The data obtained from Calliphora will facilitate electrophysiological investigations dealing with the genetic background of feeding behavior in Drosophila larvae.
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anatomy of the stomatogastric nervous system associated with the foregut in drosophila melanogaster and Calliphora vicina third instar larvae
Journal of Morphology, 2008Co-Authors: Roland Spies, Andreas Schoofs, Hans-georg HeinzelAbstract:The stomatogastric nervous system (SNS) associated with the foregut was studied in 3rd instar larvae of Drosophila melanogaster and Calliphora vicina (blowfly). In both species, the foregut comprises pharynx, esophagus, and proventriculus. Only in Calliphora does the esophagus form a crop. The position of nerves and neurons was investigated with neuronal tracers in both species and GFP expression in Drosophila. The SNS is nearly identical in both species. Neurons are located in the proventricular and the hypocerebral ganglion (HCG), which are connected to each other by the proventricular nerve. Motor neurons for pharyngeal muscles are located in the brain not, as in other insect groups, in the frontal ganglion. The position of the frontal ganglion is taken by a nerve junction devoid of neurons. The junction is composed of four nerves: the frontal connectives that fuse with the antennal nerves (ANs), the frontal nerve innervating the cibarial dilator muscles and the recurrent nerve that innervates the esophagus and projects to the HCG. Differences in the SNS are restricted to a crop nerve only present in Calliphora and an esophageal ganglion that only exists in Drosophila. The ganglia of the dorsal organs give rise to the ANs, which project to the brain. The extensive conformity of the SNS of both species suggests functional parallels. Future electrophysiological studies of the motor circuits in the SNS of Drosophila will profit from parallel studies of the homologous but more accessible structures in Calliphora.
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Anatomical and functional characterisation of the stomatogastric nervous system of blowfly (Calliphora vicina) larvae.
Journal of Insect Physiology, 2007Co-Authors: Andreas Schoofs, Roland SpießAbstract:The anatomy and functionality of the stomatogastric nervous system (SNS) of third-instar larvae of Calliphora vicina was characterised. As in other insects, the Calliphora SNS consists of several peripheral ganglia involved in foregut movement regulation. The frontal ganglion gives rise to the frontal nerve and is connected to the brain via the frontal connectives and antennal nerves (ANs). The recurrent nerve connects the frontal- to the hypocerebral ganglion from which the proventricular nerve runs to the proventricular ganglion. Foregut movements include rhythmic contractions of the cibarial dilator muscles (CDM), wavelike movements of crop and oesophagus and contractions of the proventriculus. Transections of SNS nerves indicate mostly myogenic crop and oesophagus movements and suggest modulatory function of the associated nerves. Neural activity in the ANs, correlating with postsynaptic potentials on the CDM, demonstrates a motor pathway from the brain to CDM. Crop volume is monitored by putative stretch receptors. The respective sensory pathway includes the recurrent nerve and the proventricular nerve. The dorsal organs (DOs) are directly connected to the SNS. Mechanical stimulation of the DOs evokes sensory activity in the AN. This suggests the DOs can provide sensory input for temporal coordination of feeding behaviour.
