A comparative study of metabolic effects of the corpus allatum in two adult Coleoptera, in relation to diapause
1965
El-Ibrashy, M.T.
Two problems were studied: a) Whether a lower titre of the corpus allatum hormone had a different influence on the tissues of an adult insect with a diapause mechanism than on those of one without a diapause. b) Whether the metabolic effects of the corpus allatum hormone were caused mainly by its indirect influence upon an organ, e.g. the ovary, or by general influence on the metabolism as a whole. For the research two adult Coleoptera were used: the Colorado beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) with a diapause mechanism and the yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor L.) without such a mechanism. By tracing the influences of allatectomy or of castration on the respiration it was concluded that in both species the hormone had a gonadotropic influence in females and in♂and♀Colorado beetles also a general influence on the metabolism (direct on the basal resting respiration of active insects and probably indirect on their respiration by forced action through the central nerve system).Further hypotheses were drafted about the location of the diapause mechanism (the flight muscles and the fat body?) and the function of the corpus allatum in the fat metabolism (probably mainly to speed the making of fatty acids unsaturated).
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