REGULATION OF METAMORPHOSIS BEHAVIOR IN THE TSETSE FLY

这项提议将使调查人员能够参与 肯尼亚的科学家们正在进行一项旨在发现 协调变性行为的神经内分泌机制 在采采赛，非洲锥虫病的媒介。采采画有一种奇特的 一种繁殖策略，在此策略下幼虫的发育在 雌性的子宫，她生下了一个完全发育的第三个 幼龄幼虫。使用幼虫结扎、蜕皮激素等技术 注射和蜕皮类固醇RIA，承诺变态的时间 以及触发蜕皮类固醇的时机和关键释放 赦免将会被决定。女性对分娩的贡献 将使用条形图技术进行监控，以记录 血淋巴压力和子宫肌肉体外制备：两者 技术将被用来测试激素和其他药物的疗效 诱生反应的诱导剂。柱状图技术 也将被用于量化血淋巴压力的戏剧性变化 通常发生在产卵期间。血淋巴改变 压力分布和对肉蛾幼虫生物测定的反应将 被用来测试是否存在调节 蛹的亚群：幼虫的固定、退缩 前部、纵向收缩和晒黑。其作用机制 还将测量化蛹和蛹头外翻的比例 在气压下，和外源性蜕皮类固醇将被测试其 在阻止这一过程中的有效性。羽化和羽化后行为 (逃离幼虫、挖掘和想象扩展)将是 用波形图和张力测量法描述，荷尔蒙 对这些不同行为的调节将使用生物测定法进行调查。 以前在SarCophaga开发的技术。 这一研究为理解变质行为提供了基础 以及它在采采赛中的神经激素调节，因此可能会增强 控制这一重要害虫物种的策略。

This proposal will enable the investigators to participate with scientists in Kenya on a research program aimed at the discovery of neuroendocrine mechanisms that serve to coordinate metamorphic behavior in tsetse, the vector of African trypanosomiasis. Tsetse has a peculiar reproductive strategy in which larval development is completed within the uterus of the female and she gives birth to a fully developed third instar larva. Using techniques of larval ligation, ecdysteroid injection, and ecdysteroid RIA's, the time of commitment to metamorphosis and the timing and critical release of the ecdysteroids that trigger pupariation will be determined. The female's contribution to parturition will be monitored with a barographic technique to record changes in hemolymph pressure and by in vitro preparations of uterine muscles: both techniques will be used to assay the efficacy of hormones and other agents in eliciting the parturition response. The barographic technique will also be used to quantify the dramatic changes in hemolymph pressure that normally occur during pupariation. Alterations of the hemolymph pressure profile and responses to Sarcophaga pupariation bioassays will be used to test for the presence of discrete hormones that regulate subsets of pupariation: larval immobilization, retraction of the anterior segments, longitudinal contraction, and tanning. The mechanisms of pupation and pupal head evagination will also be measured barographically, and exogenous ecdysteroids will be tested for their efficacy in blocking this process. Eclosion and post-eclosion behavior (escape from the puparium, digging, and imaginal expansion) will be described with barographic and tensometric methods, and the hormonal regulation of these various behaviors will be investigated using bioassay techniques previously developed in Sarcophaga. This study should provide a basis for understanding metamorphic behavior and its neurohormonal regulation in tsetse and may thus augment strategies for the control of this important pest species.