Nature 185, 392 (06 February 1960); doi:10.1038/185392a0

A Method of controlling the Temperature of Insect Neurosecretory Cells in situ

R. H. J. BROWN & JANET E. HARKER

Zoological Laboratory, Downing Street, Cambridge. Aug. 28.

Periplaneta americana, like many other animals, can maintain a 24-hr. rhythm of locomotor activity when in constant conditions of light and temperature. A secretion produced by the neurosecretory cells in the sub-sophageal ganglion has been shown to act as a controlling factor in the regulation of the phases of this rhythm¹. Chilling cockroaches at 3° C. for some hours causes the phases of the activity rhythm to be retarded, in relation to solar time, by the number of hours for which the temperature is lowered. A method has now been devised whereby the temperature of the neurosecretory cells of the sub-æsophageal ganglion can be maintained at 3° C., while the rest of the body remains at room temperature. Neurosecretion apparently ceases at 3° C., and the phases of the neurosecretory cycle are retarded by the number of hours for which the cells have been chilled.

1. Harker, J. E. , Biol. Rev., 33, 1 (1958). | ISI |
2. Beament, J. W. L. , and Machin, K. E. , J. Sci. Instr., 36, 87 (1959). | Article | ISI | ChemPort |