Neuropeptide immunocytochemistry in protostomian invertebrates, with special reference to insects and molluscs.

In some molluscs (Aplysia and Fusitriton) and insects (silkworm and cricket), occurrence and distribution of neuropeptides in the nervous system and gut were studied with following results: in these invertebrates and also in planaria, PP-like immunoreactivity is extensively distributed in neurons and (in insects) in gut endocrine paraneurons. These cells are negative for NPY, the mammalian neuropeptide related to PP in molecular structure. PHI-like immunoreactivity is widely distributed in the neurons of those invertebrates; it occurs also in gut endocrine paraneurons in insects. The PHI-immunopositive cells are immunonegative for VIP and the coexistence of both peptides due to the common precursor in mammals cannot be recognized in these invertebrates. Immunoreactivity for urotensin I, the neuropeptide derived from teleostean urophysial neurons, is widely distributed in the neurons of the invertebrates. In insects (cricket) it occurs in gut endocrine cells.