Functional Organization of Olfactory Pathways in the Central Nervous System of Manduca sexta

摘要

In insects, olfactory stimuli such as pheromones and kairomones stimulate receptor cells associated with particular classes of sensilla on the antennae. Physiological activity in these sensory neurones, in the form of patterned firing of action potentials , transmits information about the biologically meaningful odours along the axons of the receptor cells to the antennal lobes (ALs) of the brain. In the central nervous system (CNS) this olfactory information passes through several stages of synaptic processing in the ALs and higher centres in the protocerebrum (PR), where it is integrated with physiological information in other sensory and central channels to generate 'descending' premotor activity and ultimately behaviour. Recently there has been growing interest in central olfactory mechanisms in insects, and as a result we are beginning to learn much about the layout and operation of the antennual sensory pathways in the CNS. We study the anatomy, physiology, neurochemistry, development, and behavioural roles of the olfactory pathways in th CNS of the experimentally favourable sphinx moth Manduca sexta.