A test of the oxidative damage hypothesis for discontinuous gas exchange in the locust
Locusta migratoria
The discontinuous gas exchange cycle (DGC) is a breathing pattern displayed by many insects, characterized by periodic breath-holding and intermittently low tracheal O 2 levels. It has been hypothesized that the adaptive value of DGCs is to reduce oxidative damage, with low tracheal O 2 partial pressures ( P O 2 ∼2–5 kPa) occurring to reduce the production of oxygen free radicals. If this is so, insects displaying DGCs should continue to actively defend a low tracheal P O 2 even when breathing higher than atmospheric levels of oxygen (hyperoxia). This behaviour has been observed in moth pupae exposed to ambient P O 2 up to 50 kPa. To test this observation in adult insects, we implanted fibre-optic oxygen optodes within the tracheal systems of adult migratory locusts Locusta migratoria exposed to normoxia, hypoxia and hyperoxia. In normoxic and hypoxic atmospheres, the minimum tracheal P O 2 that occurred during DGCs varied between 3.4 and 1.2 kPa. In hyperoxia up to 40.5 kPa, the minimum tracheal P O 2 achieved during a DGC exceeded 30 kPa, increasing with ambient levels. These results are consistent with a respiratory control mechanism that functions to satisfy O 2 requirements by maintaining P O 2 above a critical level, not defend against high levels of O 2 .