Skip Navigation

American Zoologist 1993 33(3):316-323; doi:10.1093/icb/33.3.316
© 1993 by The Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Request Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by BOLLENBACHER, W. E.
Right arrow Articles by WESTBROOK, A. L.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

The Biology of the Prothoracicotropic Hormone Peptidergic Neurons in an Insect1

WALTER E. BOLLENBACHER, ROSEMARY S. GRAY, DAVID P. MUEHLEISEN, SHEILA A. REGAN and ANNE L. WESTBROOK
Department of Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-3280

SYNOPSIS. The prothoracicotropic hormone and the cerebral peptidergic neurons that produce it have traditionally been thought to have the singular function of acting as a primary effector of insect postembryonic development. Recent investigations of this neuroendocrine axis in the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, are leading to a new view that these peptidergic neurons and their peptide phenotypes may be multifunctional. They may act in different ways depending upon the animal's developmental stage and site of phenotype release. The possibility for this functional diversity of the prothoracicotropic hormone is possibly even greater due to multiple neuronal sites of peptide expression within the central nervous system. Similarly, the L-NSC III may have more functions due to the expression of multiple peptide phenotypes. The data, thus far, have not enabled us to identify additional physiological roles for the peptide, but they have provided insight into the experimental approaches that might be effective in resolving these functions.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.