Postembryonic Localization of Allatotropin- and Allatostatin-Producing Cells in Central Nervous System of the Silk Moth Bmobyx mori

Polyclonal antisera to Manduca sexta allatotropin and allatostatin were utilized to localize allatotropin- and allatostatin-immunoreactivities in the central nervous system of larvae, pupae and adults from the silk moth Bombyx mori. In larva the first allatotropin-immunoreactivity appeared in the brain and terminal abdominal ganglion of first instar larva. In the third, fourth and fifth instar larvae, there was allatotropinimmunoreactivity in the suboesophageal ganglion, three thoracic ganglia, and eight abdominal ganglia with immunoreactivity in some axons of N 1 and N 2. Allatostatin-immunoreactivity, which could be not demonstrated in the first and second instar larvae, appeared first in the brain and suboesophageal ganglion of the third instar larva. Allatostatin-immunoreactive cells increased to seven pairs in brain of the fifth instar larva, in which immunreactivity also appeared in eight abdominal ganglia. Allatotropin- and allatostatinimmunoreactive cell bodies in the brain projected their axons into corpora allata without terminations in the corpora cardiaca. During pupal and adult stages, brains had no allatotropin-immunoreactivity in the brains, but most ventral ganglia contained allatotropin-immunoreactive cells. There was allatostatin-immunoreactivity in the brains of the 5- and 7-day-old pupae and adult and suboesophageal ganglion of the 7-day-old pupa.