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Manipulation of sexual physiology by brain stimulation in insects

Abstract

IN insects the pars intercerebralis (PI) is a median protocerebral neurosecretory centre associated with postcerebral neurohaemal organs, the corpora cardiaca (CC). Numerous investigations based on ablations or implantations of the PI and CC have shown that the neurohormones released by the CC intervene in many physiological processes. In vitro, by means of electrical stimulations, it was possible to show that, as in vertebrates, there is a coupling between depolarisation and secretion1. One may therefore contemplate the development of a new technique of investigation in neuroendocrinology by electrical stimulation in vivo of neurosecretory cells. We were able to provoke by this way a precocious ovarian development in female locusts.

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MOULINS, M., GIRARDIE, A. & GIRARDIE, J. Manipulation of sexual physiology by brain stimulation in insects. Nature 250, 339–340 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1038/250339a0

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