QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by CHAPMAN, R. F. Articles by WHITE, P. R. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by CHAPMAN, R. F. Articles by WHITE, P. R.

Journal of Experimental Biology 158,241-259 (1991)
Published by Company of Biologists 1991

Sensory Coding For Feeding Deterrence in the Grasshopper Schistocerca Americana

R. F. CHAPMAN ¹, A. ASCOLI-CHRISTENSEN ¹, and P. R. WHITE ²

¹ Division of Neurobiology, University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
² Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK

The electrophysiological responses of sensilla on the tibia of Schistocerca americana (Drury) to six compounds were examined. All the compounds were shown to cause feeding deterrence at high concentrations. Nicotine hydrogen tartrate, quinine, hordenine (all alkaloids) and salicin (a phenolic glycoside) all stimulated one cell in each sensillum. This was shown by differential adaptation experiments to be the same cell. In some sensilla this cell also responded to linamarin (a cyanogenic glycoside). Earlier work had shown that the activity of this cell was correlated with feeding deterrence. However, canavanine (a nonprotein amino acid) did not stimulate this cell, although it caused feeding deterrence. All the compounds, except salicin, produced a marked depression in the activity of cells responding to sucrose, and at higher concentrations of the compounds this inhibition was almost complete.

The activity of the deterrent cell and inhibition of the activity of sucrose-sensitive cells appear to act together to produce the behavioural effects of most chemicals, but canavanine appears to act only by suppressing the activity of other cells and salicin primarily through activity of the deterrent cell. In addition, quinine disrupts the activity of all the cells and in its presence the deterrent cell adapts very slowly so that the message signalling deterrence is sustained.

At low concentrations, salicin, and probably hordenine, increased the duration of feeding. In the case of hordenine this was due to an increase in the firing rate of sucrose-sensitive neurones; with salicin the increase was associated with a high threshold of response and a rapid rate of adaptation of the deterrent cell.

Thus, similar behavioural effects are produced by a variety of sensory phenomena with each compound acting in a slightly different manner from the others.

Key words: chemoreception, deterrence, sensory inhibition, Schistocerca americana

Accepted on February 11, 1991

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. Jorgensen, T. J. Almaas, F. Marion-Poll, and H. Mustaparta Electrophysiological Characterization of Responses from Gustatory Receptor Neurons of sensilla chaetica in the Moth Heliothis virescens Chem Senses, November 1, 2007; 32(9): 863 - 879. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. I. Glendinning, A. Jerud, and A. T. Reinherz The hungry caterpillar: an analysis of how carbohydrates stimulate feeding in Manduca sexta J. Exp. Biol., September 1, 2007; 210(17): 3054 - 3067. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Jorgensen, M. Stranden, J.-C. Sandoz, R. Menzel, and H. Mustaparta Effects of two bitter substances on olfactory conditioning in the moth Heliothis virescens J. Exp. Biol., July 15, 2007; 210(14): 2563 - 2573. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. I. Glendinning, A. Davis, and M. Rai Temporal coding mediates discrimination of "bitter" taste stimuli by an insect. J. Neurosci., August 30, 2006; 26(35): 8900 - 8908. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. Ozaki, T. Takahara, Y. Kawahara, A. Wada-Katsumata, K. Seno, T. Amakawa, R. Yamaoka, and T. Nakamura Perception of Noxious Compounds by Contact Chemoreceptors of the Blowfly, Phormia regina: Putative Role of an Odorant-binding Protein Chem Senses, May 1, 2003; 28(4): 349 - 359. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				S. M. Rogers and P. L. Newland Gustatory Processing in Thoracic Local Circuits of Locusts J. Neurosci., September 15, 2002; 22(18): 8324 - 8333. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. J. Clyne, C. G. Warr, and J. R. Carlson Candidate Taste Receptors in Drosophila Science, March 10, 2000; 287(5459): 1830 - 1834. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				J. I. Glendinning and T. T. Hills Electrophysiological Evidence for Two Transduction Pathways Within a Bitter-Sensitive Taste Receptor J Neurophysiol, August 1, 1997; 78(2): 734 - 745. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]