Digital atlases of the antennal lobe in two species of tobacco budworm moths, the oriental Helicoverpa assulta (male) and the American Heliothis virescens (male and female)

Abstract

The antennal lobe of the moth brain is the primary olfactory center processing information about pheromones and plant odors. We present here a digital atlas of the glomerular antennal lobe structures in the male of Helicoverpa assulta and the male and female of Heliothis virescens, based on synaptic antibody staining combined with confocal microscopy. The numbers of the glomeruli in the three specimens were similar, 65, 66, and 62, respectively. Whereas the male antennal lobe has a macroglomerular complex consisting of three and four units in the two species, the female lobe has two enlarged glomeruli at a corresponding position, near the entrance of the antennal nerve. Another large glomerulus, showing homology in the three specimens, is ventrally located. The small size of the heliothine moths is advantageous for confocal microscopy because the entire brain can be visualized as a single image stack. The maps are freely accessible on the internet, and the digital form of the data allows each atlas to be rotated and sectioned at any angle, providing for the identification of glomeruli in different preparations.

Mas‐allatotropin in the developing antennal lobe of the sphinx moth Manduca sexta: Distribution, time course, developmental regulation, and colocalization with other neuropeptides

“…The specificity of the anti-TM-MFas II antiserum for Manduca nervous tissue was shown by Western blot analysis (Wright and Copenhaver, 2000). Anti-synaptotagmin (1:4000, kindly provided by Dr. K. Menon, Caltech, USA) and anti-synapsin antibodies (1:100, kindly provided by Dr. E. Buchner, University of Würzburg, Germany) were used to selectively label neuropil structures including olfactory glomeruli (Dubuque et al, 2001;Berg et al, 2002). M. sexta synaptotagmin was previously cloned and the specificity of the monoclonal anti-synaptotagmin antibody in Manduca brain tissue was shown by Western blot analysis and by cross comparison with a polyclonal anti-synaptotagmin antiserum recognizing a different region of the protein (Dubuque et al, 2001).…”

Postembryonic development of sexually dimorphic glomeruli and related interneurons in the cockroach Periplaneta americana

“…In the cockroach B. craniifer and fruit flies, the glomerulus in the female is much smaller [8,17]. In the sphinx moth and tobacco budworm moth, both male and female ALs possess a set of large glomeruli, but their organizational patterns differ [1,18].…”

Standard three-dimensional glomeruli of the Manduca sexta antennal lobe: a tool to study both developmental and adult neuronal plasticity

“…Several authors have outlined the advantages of a 3D map not only of vertebrate brains (Ruffins et al 2002; also reviewed in Van Essen et al 2002), but also of insect brain structures (Rohlfing et al 2004;Zöckler et al 2001;Chiang et al 2001;Rein et al 1999Rein et al , 2002Haddad et al 2004), especially in the AL (Drosophila melanogaster: Laissue et al 1999; Apis mellifera: Flanagan and Mercer 1989;Galizia et al 1999; Blaberus craniifer: Chambille and Rospars 1981; Mamestra brassicae : Rospars 1983; Helicoverpa assulta and Heliothis virescens: Berg et al 2002;Spodoptera littoralis: Sadek et al 2002; Agrotis ipsilon: Greiner et al 2004; Cotesia glomerata and rubecula: Smid et al 2003). The identification and 3D representation of a set of "ordinary" glomeruli in an atlas allows for their repeatedly reliable identification irrespective of the original data (Galizia et al 1999).…”