Identification of Serotonergic neurones that show differential activity in newly and long- term gregarious Desert Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria)

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Identification of Serotonergic neurones that show differential activity in newly and long- term gregarious Desert Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) Stephen Rogers1* 1 The University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, United Kingdom Serotonin is a neurochemical that has been implicated in the regulation of wide range of behavioural processes including social interaction. In desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria) serotonin induces a rapid behavioural change from a solitarious phase, in which locusts avoid each other, towards a more active gregarious phase in which locusts form coherent groups, which is a precursor to further profound phenotypic and behavioural changes that may ultimately culminate in swarm formation. Solitarious locusts receiving appropriate stimuli from other locusts produce a surge of serotonin in the thoracic ganglia. Once gregarization is established, however, amounts rapidly decline and fully established gregarious locusts have less serotonin in their central nervous systems than solitarious locusts. We used immunohistochemistry to compare the relative intensity of serotonin expression in each of the serotonergic neurons of the thoracic ganglia across populations of locusts receiving gregarizing stimuli and the fully established phases. In each of the thoracic ganglia neuronal somata located just ventral and lateral to the anterior connectives were relatively more intensely stained (containing more serotonin) in locusts that had received multiple gregarizing stimuli. In the pro- and meso-thoracic ganglia these occur as populations of 11-13 small somata, but in the metathoracic ganglion a single large soma occurs in a similar location. A different group of somata found across all three thoracic ganglia showed increased staining in response to exposure to the intense sight and smell of ~500 other locusts. Another distinct group of neurons in the meso- and metathoracic ganglion were less intensely stained in long-term gregarious locusts compared to long-term solitarious locusts, but were unaffected by any of the gregarizing treatments. These data suggest distinct subclasses of serotonergic neurons are responsible for the transition to gregarious behaviour from those that produce altered regulation of behaviours in the fully established phases. Keywords: Neuronal Plasticity, phase change, phenotypic plasticity Conference: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology, College Park. Maryland USA, United States, 5 Aug - 10 Aug, 2012. Presentation Type: Poster Presentation (see alternatives below as well) Topic: Learning, Memory and Behavioral Plasticity Citation: Rogers S (2012). Identification of Serotonergic neurones that show differential activity in newly and long- term gregarious Desert Locusts (Schistocerca gregaria). Conference Abstract: Tenth International Congress of Neuroethology. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnbeh.2012.27.00448 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 04 Jul 2012; Published Online: 07 Jul 2012. * Correspondence: Dr. Stephen Rogers, The University of Cambridge, Department of Zoology, Cambridge, CB2 3EJ, United Kingdom, smr34@cam.ac.uk Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Stephen Rogers Google Stephen Rogers Google Scholar Stephen Rogers PubMed Stephen Rogers Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.