Animal Physiology, Faculty of Biology & Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior - CMBB, Philipps-Universität Marburg, 35032, Marburg, Germany.
Fachbereich Biologie, Tierphysiologie, Universität Marburg, 35032, Marburg, Germany.
Cell Tissue Res. 2018 Oct;374(1):39-62. doi: 10.1007/s00441-018-2844-8. Epub 2018 May 9.
The desert locust Schistocerca gregaria is a major agricultural pest in North Africa and the Middle East. As such, it has been intensely studied, in particular with respect to population dynamics, sensory processing, feeding behavior flight and locomotor control, migratory behavior, and its neuroendocrine system. Being a long-range migratory species, neural mechanisms underlying sky compass orientation have been studied in detail. To further understand neuronal interactions in the brain of the locust, a deeper understanding of brain organization in this insect has become essential. As a follow-up of a previous study illustrating the layout of the locust brain (Kurylas et al. in J Comp Neurol 484:206-223, 2008), we analyze the cerebrum, the central brain minus gnathal ganglia, of the desert locust in more detail and provide a digital three-dimensional atlas of 48 distinguishable brain compartments and 7 major fiber tracts and commissures as a basis for future functional studies. Neuropils were three-dimensionally reconstructed from synapsin-immunostained whole mount brains. Neuropil composition and their internal organization were analyzed and compared to the neuropils of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Most brain areas have counterparts in Drosophila. Some neuropils recognized in the locust, however, have not been identified in the fly while certain areas in the fly could not be distinguished in the locust. This study paves the way for more detailed anatomical descriptions of neuronal connections and neuronal cell types in the locust brain, facilitates interspecies comparisons among insect brains and points out possible evolutionary differences in brain organization between hemi- and holometabolous insects.
沙漠蝗 Schistocerca gregaria 是北非和中东地区的主要农业害虫。因此，它一直是研究的热点，特别是在种群动态、感觉处理、摄食行为、飞行和运动控制、迁徙行为及其神经内分泌系统方面。作为一种长距离迁徙物种，已经对其用于天空罗盘定向的神经机制进行了详细研究。为了进一步了解蝗虫大脑中的神经元相互作用，深入了解这种昆虫的大脑组织变得至关重要。作为之前阐明蝗虫大脑结构的研究的后续（Kurylas 等人，J Comp Neurol 484：206-223，2008），我们更详细地分析了沙漠蝗的大脑（中央脑减去咀嚼神经节），并提供了一个 48 个可区分的脑区和 7 个主要纤维束和连合的数字化三维图谱，作为未来功能研究的基础。使用突触素免疫染色的全脑对神经丛进行了三维重建。分析了神经丛的组成及其内部组织，并与果蝇 Drosophila melanogaster 的神经丛进行了比较。大多数脑区在果蝇中都有对应物。然而，在蝗虫中识别出的一些神经丛在果蝇中没有被识别出来，而在果蝇中某些区域在蝗虫中无法区分。这项研究为蝗虫大脑中神经元连接和神经元细胞类型的更详细解剖描述铺平了道路，促进了昆虫大脑之间的种间比较，并指出了半变态和全变态昆虫之间大脑组织可能存在的进化差异。
