Abstract
More than a decade ago Brown (1967) reported the extraction of a myo-tropic substance from the viscera of the cockroach, Periplaneta americana (L.), and proposed that it might function as an excitatory neurotransmitter in the visceral muscles of insects. This “gut-factor,” later called proctolin, caused slow-type graded contractions of the longitudinal muscles of the hindgut (proctodeum) similar to those evoked by repetitive nerve stimulation. Pharmacologically, it differed from any of the known or suspected neurotransmitters tested, including 5-hydroxytryptamine, acetylcholine, adrenaline, noradrenaline, γ-aminobutyric acid, and glutamic acid. It was also different from two peptides that have activity on the hindgut, which Brown (1965) isolated from extracts of P. americana corpus cardiaca.
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Starratt, A.N., Steele, R.W. (1980). Proctolin: Bioassay, Isolation, and Structure. In: Miller, T.A. (eds) Neurohormonal Techniques in Insects. Springer Series in Experimental Entomology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-6039-4_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-6039-4_1
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