Gordon Shira D, Windmill James F C
Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University of Strathclyde, 204 George Street, Glasgow G1 1XW, UK
J Exp Biol. 2015 Jul;218(Pt 13):1990-4. doi: 10.1242/jeb.115113. Epub 2015 May 5.
Insects display signs of ageing, despite their short lifespan. However, the limited studies on senescence emphasize longevity or reproduction. We focused on the hearing ability of ageing adult locusts, Schistocerca gregaria. Our results indicate that the youngest adults (2 weeks post-maturity) have a greater overall neurophysiological response to sound, especially for low frequencies (<10 kHz), as well as a shorter latency to this neural response. Interestingly, when measuring displacement of the tympanal membrane that the receptor neurons directly attach to, we found movement is not directly correlated with neural response. Therefore, we suggest the enhanced response in younger animals is due to the condition of their tissues (e.g. elasticity). Secondly, we found the sexes do not have the same responses, particularly at 4 weeks post-adult moult. We propose female reproductive condition reduces their ability to receive sounds. Overall our results indicate older animals, especially females, are less sensitive to sounds.
尽管昆虫寿命较短，但它们仍会表现出衰老迹象。然而，目前关于衰老的有限研究主要集中在寿命或繁殖方面。我们重点研究了成年沙漠蝗（Schistocerca gregaria）衰老过程中的听力能力。我们的研究结果表明，最年轻的成年蝗虫（成熟后2周）对声音具有更强的整体神经生理反应，尤其是对低频声音（<10 kHz），并且这种神经反应的潜伏期更短。有趣的是，当测量受体神经元直接附着的鼓膜位移时，我们发现鼓膜位移与神经反应并不直接相关。因此，我们认为较年轻动物反应增强是由于其组织状况（如弹性）所致。其次，我们发现不同性别的反应不同，尤其是在成虫蜕皮后4周时。我们认为雌性的生殖状况会降低它们接收声音的能力。总体而言，我们的研究结果表明，年龄较大的动物，尤其是雌性，对声音的敏感度较低。
