Neural Mechanisms of Haptics in the Insect Antenna

昆虫的触角起着主动触觉传感器的作用，可以感知物理环境。本研究旨在阐明昆虫触角主动触觉感知的神经机制。这两个财政年度的结果如下：蟋蟀的空间行为通过使用具有不同弯曲墙壁的不规则形状竞技场和具有不同大小庇护所的圆形竞技场来研究蟋蟀的空间偏好。分析表明，蟋蟀可能会通过先前的搜索来感知给定封闭空间的结构。研究了蟑螂触角肌对触角运动神经电刺激的细胞内反应。分析提供了触角运动中枢神经支配的轮廓。为了确定蟑螂触角的运动学参数，对触角的每一块肌肉进行了电刺激，并对触角的运动进行了三维分析。胆碱能对蟑螂触角运动的控制头囊注射毒蕈碱受体激动剂匹罗卡品或尼古丁受体激动剂尼古丁，可诱导受抑制的蟑螂两种触角连续有节奏地运动。天线的轨迹包括一些空间模式元素，这些元素类似于在预定方向时观察到的。匹罗卡品还能诱导离体触角运动神经的节律性尖峰活动。水平和垂直运动系统之间的显著相关性暗示了天线运动的空间规律性。观察了蟑螂触角对恶臭（雌性源性信息素样气味）和恶臭（柠檬烯）的反应，并与匹罗卡品和尼古丁诱导的触角运动进行了比较。

The antennae of an insect function as an active tactile sensor to perceive the physical environment. This study was aimed to clarify neural mechanisms of active tactile sensing (haptics) by the insect antenna. The following results were obtained for these two financial years.1. Spatial behavior of cricketsSpatial preferences of crickets were examined by using both an irregular-shaped arena with different curvatures of walls and a circular arena with different sizes of shelters. The analyses revealed that crickets may perceive the structure of a given closed space as a consequence of preceding search.2. Neural control of antennal muscles in cockroachesIntracellular responses to electrical stimuli to antennal motor nerves were recorded from the antennal muscles. The analyses provided the outline of innervation from the antennal motor center.3. Kinematics of the cockroach antennaIn order to determine kinematic parameters, each of the antennal muscles was electrically stimulated, and the consequent antennal movement was analyzed three-dimensionally.4. Cholinergic control of antennal movement in cockroachesWhen a muscarinic agonist pilocarpine or a nicotinic agonist nicotine was injected into the head capsule, continuous rhythmic movements of both antennae were induced in the restrained cockroach. The trajectories of antennae included some spatially-patterned elements, which resemble those observed during intended orientation. Pilocarpine also induced rhythmic spike activities of the antennal motor nerves in vitro specimens. Significant correlates between the horizontal and vertical motor systems imply the spatial regularity of antennal movement.5. Antennal responses to aversive and attractive odors in cockroachesThe responses of antennae to the aversive odor (female-derived sex pheromone-like odor) and the aversive odor (limonene) were observed and compared with the antennal movement induced by pilocarpine or nicotine.