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The effect ofHabrobracon venom on excitatory neuromuscular transmission in insects

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Summary

  1. 1.

    The action of the venom of the braconid waspHabrobracon hebetor was studied in nerve-muscle preparations of its host the mealmoth larva (Ephestia kühniella) and of the locust (Locusta migratoria) by comparing physiological properties of normal and paralysed preparations.

  2. 2.

    The venom neither had an effect on nervous conduction nor on membrane potential, current-voltage relationship, graded electrogenesis and contraction of the muscle fibres.

  3. 3.

    Inhibitory transmission was not blocked. Excitatory junction potentials were either greatly diminished or absent during paralysis. They could not be restored to normal size by increasing the external Ca concentration.

  4. 4.

    The postjunctional sensitivity to L-glutamic acid was not significantly altered by the venom.

  5. 5.

    In paralysed locust preparations miniature excitatory junction potentials were still observed, but their frequency was reduced to as little as 1% of controls. Their amplitude distributions were similar to controls, except that the proportion of very large mejps was somewhat higher.

  6. 6.

    In weakly paralysed preparations tetanic nerve stimulation caused facilitation and posttetanic potentiation of the reduced ejps. With more extensive paralysis, tetanic stimulation increased the frequency of the mejps and a few of the stimuli were followed by mejp-like ejps.

  7. 7.

    Raising the osmolarity of the saline increased the mejp-frequenoy of paralysed preparations significantly less than in control preparations.

  8. 8.

    The thiol oxidizing compound diamide caused a large increase of mejpfrequency in controls but completely blocked spontaneous release in paralysed preparations. These effects could be quickly reversed by a subsequent application of the disulfide reducing agent dithiothreitol.

  9. 9.

    It is unlikely that the purely presynaptic effect ofHabrobracon venom is on the electrical properties of the excitatory nerve terminals. It is discussed whether the release mechanism or the supply of transmitter are affected. There may be a specific affinity of the venom to glutaminergic synapses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Deutschland

    Christian Walther & Werner Rathmayer

Authors
  1. Christian Walther
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  2. Werner Rathmayer
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Additional information

This investigation has been supported by a grant of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Sonderforschungsbereich SFB 138).

We thank Dr. E. M. Kosower, Tel Aviv University, Israel, for kindly providing diamide and Prof. W. Drescher, Universität Bonn, West-Germany, for the initial supply of Habrobracon wasps. We also would like to thank our colleagues for reading the manuscript, in particular Drs. E. Florey and L. Murdock who also corrected the English, and Barbara Jesseu and Sigrid Köhler for technical assistance.

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Walther, C., Rathmayer, W. The effect ofHabrobracon venom on excitatory neuromuscular transmission in insects. J. Comp. Physiol. 89, 23–38 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696160

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696160

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