Presence and Preliminary Characterisation of Factors Regulating Carbohydrate and Lipid Metabolism Isolated from the Corpus Cardiacum of the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

Abstract

There appears to be considerable conservation within the arthropods of the group of small neuropeptides which are known as the AKH/RPCH-family (Gäde, 1986) because of their structural similarity to the locust adipokinetic hormone I (AKH I, Stone et al., 1976) and the crustacean red pigment-concentrating hormone (RPCH, Fernlund and Josefsson, 1972). The adipokinetic hormones (AKH I and AKH II) are stored in the corpus cardiacum (CC) of grasshoppers and their hyperlipaemic action is thought to be associated with the large increase in metabolic rate which accompanies sustained flight (e. g. Locusta, Schistocerca). We therefore decided to study the flightless and slow-moving lubber grasshopper, Romalea microptera, to determine whether it had the ability to synthesise neuropeptides of similar structure to AKH and, if so, what their intrinsic function might be.