The occurrence of neurogenesis in mushroom bodies of adult insects belonging to several orthopteroid and coleopteran families is described. Using injections of 5-bromo, T2'-deoxyuridine, we showed that neuroblasts, which are progenitors of Kenyon cells during preimaginal instars, continue to divide in adult Acheta domesticus. Their progeny constitute a central column in mushroom body cortices of 3-week-old females. Other Gryllidae, Gryllus bimaculatus and Gryllomorpha dalmatina, show the same pattern of neuroblast activity and migration of their progeny. Immunocytochemical staining of glial cells failed to reveal any immunoreactivity, either in proliferating regions or in the resulting cells. In another orthopteran, Locusta migratoria, discrete clusters of cells, located dorsolateral to the Kenyon cells, incorporated 5-bromo, 2'-deoxyuridine, but we could not detect any neuronal progeny migrating to the mushroom body cortices. These cells were strongly labeled with an antiglial antibody, indicating that the replicating cells are glioblasts rather than neuroblasts. In Periplaneta americana (Dictyoptera), cells replicating their DNA were similarly shown to immunoreact with glial antibodies. In contrast, three coleopterans (Tenebrio molitor, Zophobas species, Harmonia axyridis) have two large neuroblasts located in the middle of the mushroom body cortices. These produce cells which migrate within the group of Kenyon cells, their nuclei having the same shape and size as those of surrounding Kenyon cells. In adult insects, neurogenesis in mushroom bodies occurs in Gryllidae and several coleopteran families, but could not be demonstrated in Dictyoptera and Acrididae. Its occurrence and distribution raise the issue of unexpected plasticity in the adult insect brain.

Mushroom bodies are the main integrative structures of insect brain. They receive sensory information from the eyes, the palps, and the antennae. In the house cricket, Acheta domesticus, a cluster of mushroom body neuroblasts keeps producing new interneurons during an insect's life span. The aim of the present work is to study the impact of environmental stimuli on mushroom body neurogenesis during adulthood. Crickets were reared either in an enriched environment, where they received complex environmental and congeneric stimulations or isolated in small cages and deprived of most visual, auditory, and olfactory stimuli. They then were injected with a S‐phase marker, 5‐bromo, 2′‐deoxyuridine (BrdU) and sacrificed at different periods of their life. Neurogenesis and cell survival were estimated by counting the number of BrdU‐labeled cells in the mushroom bodies. Environmentally enriched crickets were found to have an increased number of newborn cells in their mushroom bodies compared with crickets housed in cages with an impoverished environment. This effect of external factors on neurogenesis seems to be limited to the beginning of imaginal life. Furthermore, no cell loss could be detected among the newborn neurons in either environmental situation, suggesting that cell survival was not affected by the quality of the environment. Considering vertebrate studies which showed that enriched environment increases hippocampal cell survival and improves animal performances in spatial learning tests, we suggest that the increased number of interneurons produced in an integrative brain structure after exposure to enriched environment could contribute to adaptive behavioral performances in adult insects. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Neurobiol 45: 162–171, 2000

Persistent neurogenesis in an adult insect brain was recently shown to be stimulated by juvenile hormone (JH). This morphogenetic hormone was also shown to act on polyamine biosynthesis. To analyze the possible involvement of polyamines in the neurogenic action of JH, two series of experiments were carried out with adult female crickets, Acheta domesticus: (i) inhibition of the first key enzyme in polyamine biosynthesis, ornithine decarboxylase, with ␣-dif luoromethylornithine (␣-DFMO), and examination of the effects of this treatment on the neuroblast proliferation response to JH; and (ii) examination of the effects of putrescine supplementation on the mitotic index of JH-deprived and ␣-DFMO-treated females. In control females, ␣-DFMO treatment, as well as JH deprivation, greatly reduced neuroblast proliferation. Putrescine supplementation in ␣-DFMOtreated insects overcame the effects of ␣-DFMO, and allowed for detection of putrescine in the neural tissue and stimulation of brain neurogenesis. In JH-deprived females, ␣-DFMO treatment completely prevented the stimulatory action of JH on neuroblast proliferation and on brain putrescine levels. By contrast, putrescine feeding of JH-deprived animals was able to mimic the stimulatory effect of JH: brain putrescine levels increased and neuroblast proliferation was restored. To our knowledge, this report demonstrates for the first time that in vivo administration of putrescine can mimic the effects of a morphogenetic hormone on adult neuroblast proliferation, and shows the importance of polyamines, especially putrescine, in the transduction of JH message in neural tissue.The pleiotropic action of juvenile hormone (JH) in insects has been widely demonstrated (1-3). However, JH receptors have not yet been characterized, and, despite numerous attempts, the precise molecular mechanisms of action of JH are far from being understood (1-3). Recently, persistent neurogenesis modulated by hormones was demonstrated in one of the main integrative areas of adult cricket brain, the mushroom bodies (4, 5). † Neuroblast proliferation was depressed in the absence of JH, whereas JH injection significantly stimulated the mitotic activity of the proliferative area. Although in adult females the most studied role of JH is action on fat body and ovaries to induce vitellogenesis, it is now apparent that neural tissue is also a target for JH action. It has also been shown that in the neural tissue, lack of JH depresses the activities of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) and S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (AdoMetDC), the two key enzymes in polyamine biosynthesis, resulting in a significant lowering of polyamine titres, an effect that was reversed by JH injection (7). In the cricket, oviposition behavior requires the action of JH, and a strong reduction of oviposition results from inhibition of ODC (8). These findings allowed us to hypothesize that JH can act through polyamine metabolism. The naturally occurring polyamines, putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, are ubiquitous polycati...

Mushroom bodies, which are the main integrative centre for insect sensorial information, play a critical role in associative olfactory learning and memory. This paired brain structure contains interneurons grouped in a cortex, sending their axons into organized neuropiles. In the house cricket (Acheta domesticus) brain, persistent neuroblasts proliferate throughout adult life. Juvenile hormone (JH) has been shown to stimulate this proliferation [Cayre, M., Strambi, C. & Strambi, A. (1994) Nature, 368, 57-59]. In the present study, the effect of morphogenetic hormones on mushroom body cells maintained in primary culture was examined. Whereas JH did not significantly affect neurite growth, ecdysone significantly stimulated neurite elongation. Moreover, ecdysone also acted on neuroblast proliferation, as demonstrated by the reduced number of cells labelled with 5-bromodeoxyuridine following ecdysone application. Heterospecific antibodies raised against ecdysone receptor protein and ultraspiracle protein, the two heterodimers of ecdysteroid receptors, showed positive immunoreactivity in nervous tissue extracts and in nuclei of mushroom body cells, indicating the occurrence of putative ecdysteroid receptors in cricket mushroom body cells. These data indicate a dual role for ecdysone in adult cricket mushroom bodies: this hormone inhibits neuroblast proliferation and stimulates interneuron differentiation. These results suggest that a constant remodelling of mushroom body structure could result from physiological changes in hormone titres during adult life.