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Effects of prolonged exposure to cold on the spontaneous activity of two different types of filiform sensilla in Pyrrhocoris apterus

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Abstract

We recorded the spontaneous activity of T1 and T2 filiform sensilla from October to May in Pyrrhocoris apterus acclimatized to outdoor conditions. The aim of the study was to determine how prolonged exposure to cold affects two closely related mechanosensitive sensilla. We recorded the activity at seven temperatures from 5 to 35 °C. In both sensilla types the activity level was reduced during winter, which correlated to changes in acclimatization temperature (r = 0.7), the reduction was greater at high recording temperatures, and the effects of exposure to cold were reversed by transferring the animals indoors. However, T1 activity always increased monotonically, if the recording temperature was increased from 5 to 35 °C, whereas T2 activity in cold-acclimatized animals increased to temperatures between 20 and 30 °C and then started decreasing. As a result, the temperature sensitivity of the activity was reduced more profoundly in T2 sensilla (in T2 Q 10 was reduced from 3.5 in October to 1.4 in January, whereas in T1 it was reduced from 2.5 to 2.2). In conclusion, we have shown that prolonged exposure to cold does affect filiform sensilla; however, the effect is significantly different in the two sensilla types.

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Abbreviations

F :

Impulse frequency

Q 10 :

Temperature coefficient

r :

Pearson coefficient of correlation

SD:

Standard deviation

SEM:

Standard error of mean

T a :

Temperature of the abdomen

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Prof. Marko Kreft for his useful comments. This work was supported by Slovenian research agency grant Z1-4228.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Večna pot 111, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Aleš Škorjanc, Aleš Lipičnik & Kazimir Drašlar

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  1. Aleš Škorjanc
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  2. Aleš Lipičnik
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  3. Kazimir Drašlar
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Correspondence to Aleš Škorjanc.

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Škorjanc, A., Lipičnik, A. & Drašlar, K. Effects of prolonged exposure to cold on the spontaneous activity of two different types of filiform sensilla in Pyrrhocoris apterus . J Comp Physiol A 199, 807–815 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-013-0841-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-013-0841-7

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