Summary
Cuticle discs cut from the wings ofPeriplaneta and cuticular lipid extracts were analysed by differential scanning calorimetry. Two major endothermic events, one beginning at 7.1±0.3°C, and the other increasing with temperature above 24.7±0.7°C, were associated with extractable lipids in intact cuticle discs. Heating progressively destroyed the molecular structures responsible for the high temperature event but had no effect on the lower one. These results complement changes in cuticle permeability observed in a recent study and thought to be associated with structural change in the cuticular water barrier. The molecular structures responsible for both events depended on the presence of water in the cuticle. Cuticular lipid extracts lack the molecular organization found in intact cuticle, even when water is present.
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Machin, J., Lampert, G.J. Evidence for water-organized structure in the cuticular water barrier of the American cockroach,Periplaneta americana . J Comp Physiol B 159, 739–744 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691719
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691719