Immunocytochemical demonstration of octopamine-immunoreactive cells in the nervous system of Locusta migratoria and Schistocerca gregaria

Summary The distribution of octopamine in the metathoracic ganglion, brain and corpus cardiacum of Locusta migratoria and Schistocerca gregaria was investigated by means of immunocytochemistry with an antiserum against octopamine. The dorsal unpaired median (DUM) cells of the metathoracic ganglion were found to be strongly octopamine-immunoreactive. In the rostroventral part of the protocerebrum a group of seven immunopositive cells was demonstrated. Stained nerve fibres of these cells run into three directions: circumoesophageal connectives, midbrain, and optic lobes. As far as the protocerebrum is concerned, immunoreactive fibres were found in the central body, the protocerebral bridge, and in other neuropile areas. In the optic lobe a dense plexus of immunopositive fibres was found in the lobula and in the medulla. In the brain one other immunopositive cell was demonstrated, situated at the lateral border of the tritocerebrum. Octopamine could not be shown to occur either in the globuli cells of the mushroom bodies or in the dorsolateral part of the protocerebrum, where the perikarya of the secretomotor neurones are located that innervate the glandular cells of the corpus cardiacum. In the nervi corporis cardiaci II, which contain the axons of the neurones that extend into the glandular part of the corpus cardiacum, and in the corpus cardiacum proper no specific octopamine immunoreactivity could be found.