Comparison of effects of octopamine and insecticidal essential oils on activity in the nerve cord, foregut, and dorsal unpaired median neurons of cockroaches

Essential oil constituents were tested for their neurophysiological effects in Periplaneta americana and Blaberus discoidalis. Eugenol depressed spontaneous and stimulus-evoked impulses recorded extracellularly in the abdominal nerve cord, with an almost complete block of spikes at 2×10 −3 M. Geraniol and citral had similar depressive effects but increased spontaneous firing at lower doses (threshold 2.5×10 −4 M). Similar effects occurred in dorsal unpaired median (DUM) neurons, recorded intracellularly in the isolated terminal abdominal ganglion of P. americana. Spontaneous firing was progressively reduced by increasing concentrations of eugenol, whereas geraniol and citral produced biphasic effects (excitation at 10 −4 M, depression at 2×10 −3 M). All three oils decreased excitability of silent DUM neurons that were depolarised by applied current, but eugenol (at 10 −3 M) also changed the firing pattern from single spikes to bursts driven by plateau potentials. All oils reduced spike undershoot. Low doses of citral and geraniol (threshold ca. 10 −4 M) reversibly increased the frequency of spontaneous foregut contractions and abolished them at 2×10 −3 M (together with response to electrical stimulation). Eugenol reversibly reduced spontaneous activity at 10 −4 M and above. Eugenol has been reported to exert its insecticidal properties via a low-dose activation of octopamine receptors. In our studies, however, octopamine was found to have opposing effects to eugenol on DUM neurons and foregut activity (excitatory in both). Furthermore, eugenol did not affect the response to octopamine in DUM neurons. These results suggest that reported effects of eugenol were on a different sub-type of octopamine receptor.