Perfusion with cAMP analogue affects pheromone-sensitive trichoid sensilla of the hawkmoth Manduca sexta in a time-dependent manner.

Octopamine causes time-dependent disadaptation of pheromone-sensitive olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) of Manduca sexta. Because the majority of insect octopamine receptors are positively coupled to adenylyl cyclases we examined whether cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) mimics octopamine-dependent modulation of pheromone transduction in a time-dependent manner. Long-term tip recordings of single trichoid sensilla of Manduca sexta were performed during three zeitgeber times (ZTs, ZT 0=lights on), while stimulating the sensilla with two doses of the main pheromone component bombykal in a non-adapting protocol. The membrane-permeable cAMP analogue 8bcAMP increased the normalized sensillar potential amplitude in a time- and bombykal dose-dependent way. At the higher bombykal dose only, the applied 8bcAMP antagonized an endogenous decrease in the mean sensillar potential amplitude at ZT 1-4 and ZT 8-11 when ORNs were adapted but not at ZT 22-1, when ORNs were sensitized. In contrast to octopamine, 8bcAMP did not consistently affect the initial pheromone-dependent action potential frequency, the phasic/tonic response pattern, or the time-dependent shift to lower mean action potential frequencies at ZT 8-11. Furthermore, 8bcAMP increased the spontaneous action potential frequency time dependently, but differently from octopamine. In conclusion, our results show that cAMP only partly mimics the octopamine-dependent disadaptation of olfactory receptor neurons during photophase, apparently due to another missing octopamine-dependent synergistic factor such as defined intracellular calcium levels.