Crustacean cardioactive peptide-immunoreactive neurons in the ventral nerve cord and the brain of the meal beetle Tenebrio molitor during postembryonic development

Summary By use of an antiserum against the crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP) several types of bilaterally symmetrical neurons have been mapped quantitatively in the ventral nerve cord and in the brain of the meal beetle, Tenebrio molitor. The general architecture of these neurons was reconstructed from peroxidase-antiperoxidase-labelled whole-mount preparations. From the subesophageal to the seventh abdominal ganglia two types of neurons show a repetitive organization of contralateral projection patterns in each neuromere. The first type has few branches in the central neuropil and a distinct peripheral projection. The second type is characterized by an elaborate central branching pattern, which includes ascending and descending processes. Some of its peripheral branches were found to supply peripheral neurohemal areas. In the protocerebrum, 10 CCAP-immunoreactive neurons occur with projections into the superior median protocerebrum and the tritocerebrum. Immunopositive neurons were mapped in larval and various pupal stages, as well as in the adult. All types of identified neurons were found to persist throughout metamorphosis maintaining their essential structural and topological characteristics. The CCAP-immunoreactive neurons of T. molitor are compared with those described for the locust. Putative structural homologies of subsets of neurons in both species are discussed.