Mapping of enkephalin-related peptides in the nervous system of the blowfly, Calliphora vomitoria, and their co-localization with cholecystokinin (CCK)- and pancreatic polypeptide (PP)-like peptides.

The distribution of enkephalin-like immunoreactive material has been studied in the CNS of C. vomitoria. The presence of both Met- and Leu-enkephalin-related peptides is suggested by differential immunostaining with a variety of antisera. Comparisons made between certain of the enkephalin-immunoreactive perikarya, nerve fibres and terminals with cells in corresponding positions as evidenced in previously published neuroanatomical studies of the dipteran brain have suggested specific enkephalinergic pathways. As examples, one Met-enkephalin-immunoreactive neuron appears to link the lobula with the dorsal protocerebrum, and a group of Leu-enkephalin cells in the pars intercerebralis appear to have arborisations in both the central body (fan-shaped body) and the tritocerebral neuropil around the oesophageal foramen. Neuronal pathways of this type indicate that the enkephalin-like peptides of the fly brain are functioning as neurotransmitters and/or neuromodulators. In the thoracic ganglia, symmetrically arranged cells, immunoreactive to both Met- and Leu-enkephalin antisera, are positioned ventrally in pairs on either side of the mid-line in a sagittal plane. Very little immunoreactive material is observed in the neuropil, however, and the source of the accumulation of Leu-enkephalin-immunoreactivity in the dorsal neural sheath is not certain. It is suggested that this material, in contrast to that present in areas of the brain, acts as a neurohormone and that it may have a physiological role following its release into the haemolymph. The enkephalin-like immunoreactive material of certain neurons identified within the brain and thoracic ganglion shows a complex pattern of co-existence with pancreatic polypeptide- and gastrin/cholecystokinin-like peptides.