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  • Title: Pheromone detection by a pheromone emitter: a small sex pheromone-specific processing system in the female American cockroach.
    Author: Nishino H, Iwasaki M, Mizunami M.
    Journal: Chem Senses; 2011 Mar; 36(3):261-70. PubMed ID: 21098584.
    Abstract:
    Many animals depend on pheromone communication for successful mating. Sex pheromone in insects is usually released by females to attract males. In American cockroaches, the largest glomerulus (B-glomerulus) in the male antennal lobe (first-order olfactory center) processes the major component of sex pheromone. Using intracellular recordings combined with fine neuroanatomical techniques, we provide evidence that the female homolog of the male B-glomerulus also acts as a sex pheromone-specific detector. Whereas ordinary glomeruli that process normal environmental odors are innervated by single projection neurons (PNs), the B-glomerulus in both sexes is innervated by multiple PNs, one of which possesses a thicker axon, termed here B-PN. Both soma size and axon diameter were smaller on B-PNs from females compared with B-PNs from males. The female B-PNs also produce fewer terminal arborizations in the protocerebrum than male B-PNs. Termination fields in the lateral protocerebrum of the female B-PN are mostly segregated from those formed by other uniglomerular PNs innervating ordinary glomeruli. Female B-PN activity was greatest in response to sex pheromone but lower than that in the male B-PN. This specific detection system suggests that sex pheromone affects the behavior and/or endocrine system of female cockroaches.
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