Sammendrag
Previous electrophysiological and optical imaging experiments on Heliothis virescens males have shown that the macroglomerular complex (MGC) receives information about insect produced signals, whereas the ordinary glomeruli are activated by stimulation with plant odours. The MGC is not present in the female antennal lobe, and so far no responses to insect produced signals have been recorded in the females. There is a spatial representation of pheromone and interspecific signal information in the MGC, which seems to be conserved between individuals. Little is known about specific activation patterns of the ordinary glomeruli during stimulation with plant odours. In the present study, the calcium-sensitive dye, Calcium-Green AM, was used to measure re sponses in the antennal lobe to stimulation with 11 single compounds and two mixtures at 5 different concentrations. Activity in the antennal lobe was obtained both as response to odours and sometimes as response to the control (air). The stimulation wi th plant odours elicited a distributed activity pattern in the ordinary glomeruli of both sexes, and individual glomeruli took part in the activity patterns of different odours. Individual glomeruli were identified using a 3D-atlas of the moth antennal lobe. The representation of the different plant odours appeared to be conserved between individuals of the same sex. Plant odour information in this moth species, like in the honeybees, is represented as an across-glomeruli code in the ordinary glomerul i.
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