Cyclic AMP-dependent and independent stimulations of ovarian steroidogenesis by brain factors in the blowfly, Phormia regina.

The involvement of cyclic-AMP (cAMP) as a potential second messenger in the neurohormonal control of ovarian steroidogenesis was investigated in the adult female blowfly Phormia regina. Individual measurements of ovarian cAMP concentrations and of ovarian biosynthesis of ecdysteroids, stimulated after a protein meal, demonstrated that steroidogenesis is preceded by a peak of cAMP in the ovaries. In vitro, ovarian steroidogenesis was stimulated by cell-permeable analogues of cAMP and by forskolin. Crude brain extracts were also able to elicit a rise of cAMP in the ovaries in vitro and the secretion of ecdysteroids into the medium: such extracts were more active before than after the protein meal, suggesting a rapid release of neuroendocrine material after feeding. Extracts were then prepared from the dorso-medial part of the brain, containing the neurosecretory cells of the pars intercerebralis (PI): these extracts were again found to stimulate the ovarian ecdysteroid secretion, but surprisingly, they failed to trigger a rise of cAMP in the ovaries in vitro. However, extracts from the rest of the cephalic nervous mass, deprived of PI, were also steroidogenic and they increased ovarian cAMP. Experiments with Rp-cAMPS, a cAMP antagonist, were not able to prevent the ecdysteroid stimulation by PI extracts, but did so partly for the extracts deprived of PI. This study thus indicates that at least two different cephalic factors are able to stimulate ovarian steroidogenesis in the blowfly, one elaborated by PI and acting via a cAMP-independent mechanism, and the other elaborated outside PI and using cAMP as a second messenger.