Effects of brief chilling and desiccation on ion homeostasis in the central nervous system of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria

In insects, chilling, anoxia, and dehydration are cues to trigger rapid physiological responses enhancing stress tolerance within minutes. Recent evidence suggests that responses elicited by different cues are mechanistically distinct from each other, though these differences have received little attention. Further, the effects are not well studied in neural tissue. In this study, we examined how brief exposure to desiccation and chilling affect ion homeostatic mechanisms in metathoracic ganglion of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria. Both desiccation and chilling enhanced resistance to anoxia, though only chilling hastened recovery from anoxic coma. Similarly, only chilling enhanced resistance to pharmacological perturbation of neuronal ion homeostasis. Our results indicate that chilling and desiccation trigger mechanistically distinct responses and, while both may be important for neuronal ion homeostasis, chilling has a larger effect on this tissue. This is one of few studies to demonstrate the importance of the central nervous system in rapid acclimatory responses in insects. [Display omitted] •Brief dehydration and chilling both enhanced resistance to anoxic coma.•Neither chilling nor dehydration enhanced resistance to cold-related neural shutdown in the metathroacic ganglion.•Chilling enhanced resistance to pharmacological inhibition of Na+K+ATPase, though dehydration did not have a similar effect.