The Central Nervous Control of Flight in a Locust

1961 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-490 ◽  
Author(s):  
DONALD M. WILSON
Keyword(s):  
Flight Control ◽  
Schistocerca Gregaria ◽  
Feedback Loops ◽  
Sensory Nerves ◽  
Surgical Removal ◽  
Flight Control System ◽  
Nervous Control ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Reflex Control ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. The co-ordination of the flight movements of Schistocerca gregaria Forskål was examined in order to determine the extent of central patterning and reflex control. 2. Electrical recordings from wing sensory nerves showed many units which responded to wing movements of various kinds. During flight the sensory discharge was timed to certain phases of the wing-beat cycle. 3. Surgical removal of the sources of timed input did not abolish patterned output, which resembled that during flight, but the frequency of cycling was considerably reduced. Either electrical stimulation of the nerve cord or continuous wind on the head could elicit the pattern. 4. A multiplicity of oscillators in the flight control system was demonstrated. 5. It is suggested that the basic co-ordination of flight is an inherent function of the central nervous system but that peripheral feedback loops influence the frequency of Operation and details of pattern.

Juvenile-hormone-mediated plasticity of aggregation behaviour and olfactory processing in adult desert locusts

2001 ◽  
Vol 204 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ignell ◽  
F. Couillaud ◽  
S. Anton
Keyword(s):  
Juvenile Hormone ◽  
Aggregation Pheromone ◽  
Schistocerca Gregaria ◽  
Aggregation Pheromones ◽  
Surgical Removal ◽  
Aggregation Behaviour ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Receptor Neurons ◽  
Different Levels

In desert locusts Schistocerca gregaria, aggregation behaviour is elicited by aggregation pheromones. In this study, we show that the behavioural response to the major and most potent adult aggregation pheromone component, phenylacetonitrile, is age- and juvenile-hormone-dependent. Furthermore, we show that juvenile hormone influences the responsiveness of olfactory interneurons in the antennal lobe to aggregation pheromone, whereas the responsiveness of antennal receptor neurons is not changed. Old locusts and locusts injected with juvenile hormone, in contrast to young locusts and locusts deprived of juvenile hormone through allatectomy, i.e. after surgical removal of the gland producing this hormone, do not display any aggregation behaviour, as indicated by long-term behavioural observations. The lack of positive olfactory-guided behaviour coincides with an impairment of the central olfactory system, which displays a lower number of neurons responding to aggregation pheromone. Indirect and direct actions of juvenile hormone at different levels of the central nervous system may thus contribute to the regulation and modulation of behavioural responsiveness in the locust.

Hindleg targeting during scratching in the locust

1997 ◽  
Vol 200 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
T Matheson
Keyword(s):  
Tactile Stimulation ◽  
Schistocerca Gregaria ◽  
Sensory Information ◽  
Sensory Receptors ◽  
Mechanical Constraints ◽  
Metathoracic Ganglion ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Stimulus Site ◽  
Site Of Stimulation ◽  
Stimulation Of

Intact locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) respond to tactile stimulation of their folded wings with rhythmic scratching movements of the ipsilateral hindleg that are directed towards the site of stimulation. For example, sites near the base of a wing elicit anteriorly directed scratches, whereas sites near the distal end of a wing elicit posteriorly directed scratches. Locusts also scratch in response to tactile stimulation of a wing that is held outstretched in a posture similar to that normally adopted during flight, but they fail to alter their leg targeting to compensate for this changed position of the stimulus site. Instead, they scratch at an empty point in space near the abdomen, where the stimulus site would have been if the wing was folded in the resting posture. This inappropriate scratching does not result from mechanical constraints on the hindleg's movement, from stimulation of abdominal sensory receptors, or from an absence of sensory information from the outstretched wing. It also persists when the metathoracic ganglion that controls movements of the hindlegs is isolated from the remainder of the central nervous system (CNS). Targeted scratching of sites on the wings of locusts therefore appears to be fixed relative to body coordinates and does not take into account alterations of the target wing's position.

Glucuronyl 3-sulfate occurs exclusively on distal unmyelinated terminals of selected sensory neurons in the peripheral nervous system

1995 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 958-959
Author(s):  
S.S. Spicer ◽  
B.A. Schulte
Keyword(s):  
Central Nervous System ◽  
Nervous System ◽  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Peripheral Nervous System ◽  
Sensory Neurons ◽  
Sensory Nerves ◽  
Tissue Antigens ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Leu 7

Generation of monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) against tissue antigens has yielded several (VC1.1, HNK- 1, L2, 4F4 and anti-leu 7) which recognize the unique sugar epitope, glucuronyl 3-sulfate (Glc A3- SO4). In the central nervous system, these MAbs have demonstrated Glc A3-SO4 at the surface of neurons in the cerebral cortex, the cerebellum, the retina and other widespread regions of the brain.Here we describe the distribution of Glc A3-SO4 in the peripheral nervous system as determined by immunostaining with a MAb (VC 1.1) developed against antigen in the cat visual cortex. Outside the central nervous system, immunoreactivity was observed only in peripheral terminals of selected sensory nerves conducting transduction signals for touch, hearing, balance and taste. On the glassy membrane of the sinus hair in murine nasal skin, just deep to the ringwurt, VC 1.1 delineated an intensely stained, plaque-like area (Fig. 1). This previously unrecognized structure of the nasal vibrissae presumably serves as a tactile end organ and to our knowledge is not demonstrable by means other than its selective immunopositivity with VC1.1 and its appearance as a densely fibrillar area in H&E stained sections.

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