Periodic reversal of heart action in the silkworm moth and pupa

Abstract

AbstractDirection of peristalsis of the dorsal vessel in prepupa, chrysalis, and adult of Lepidoptera is not constantly forward; phases of forward peristalsis alternate with phases either of backward peristalsis throughout the whole dorsal vessel or of diverging waves originating in the third to fourth abdominal segments, proceeding backward and forward. Periodic reversal in the silkworm begins twenty‐four hours after spinning, forty‐eight before pupation. Pupation occurs during a vigorous backward phase. Soon after pupation, and sometimes during pupation, backward phases consist of diverging waves. Later, and in the adult, complete reversal intermittently occurs. Backward phases in the pupa are long (e.g., fifteen minutes), the average rate slow and variable, quickening at eight to ten days to that of the adult. Any long backward phase shows a gradual slowing down, except approaching pupation when the pulse quickens to equal that of forward beating. Average rate of forward beating is constant at constant temperature, but absolute rate in a long phase gradually slackens. Pauses (sometimes one and one‐half hours long in older pupae) often follow forward phases. Alternating phases in the adult, compared with the pupa, are short, about one minute and usually less than one hundred beats. In old moths the phases become still shorter, often being reduced to single beats. Opposing waves occasionally conflict. Periodic reversal occurs for hours after excision of the dorsal wall with the pericardium and heart. As in ascidians, back pressure cannot explain reversal.