A histochemical and electrophysiological study of the action of diazoxon on cholinesterase activity and nerve conduction in ganglia of the cockroach Periplaneta americana L

When sixth abdominal or metathoracic ganglia of the cockroach Periplaneta americana L. were irrigated continuously with diazoxon (O, O-diethyl O-(2-isopropyl-6-methyl-4-pyrimidinyl) phosphate) solution in situ, the log. of the time required to block conduction in certain nerve pathways in the ganglia was directly proportional to the log. of the concentration of diazoxon applied. Inhibition of cholinesterase began peripherally before function was affected, and had begun to affect the neuropile by the time that conduction was first blocked. Longer exposure to diazoxon disrupted nerve function even more, especially in the sixth abdominal ganglion, and inhibited more cholinesterase, but much longer exposure was needed to inhibit nearly all the cholinesterase. Irrigation with saline, begun when block first occurred, failed to restore completely either nerve function or cholinesterase activity. The cholinesterase activity of ganglia from cockroaches treated topically with an LD90 of diazoxon and examined at intervals after treatment decreased steadily to a level similar to that of ganglia treated directly with diazoxon until conduction was just blocked, but rarely became less, even in moribund insects. Nerve function in metathoracic ganglia became badly affected and remained so in all cockroaches that failed to recover, but sixth abdominal ganglia, though usually badly affected for a time, always recovered normal function, even in prostrate cockroaches. The condition of a poisoned insect, therefore, corresponded much more closely to the functional condition of the metathoracic ganglion than to that of the sixth abdominal ganglion. Applying the insecticide close to a ganglion advanced the time of onset of symptoms but affected the final outcome very little. It was calculated that the highest concentration of diazoxon in the haemo-lymph in contact with the nervous systems of cockroaches treated topically with LDgo's of diazoxon was about 10^-5M.