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Responses to pheromone blends in insect olfactory receptor neurons

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Summary

  1. 1.

    The electrical activity of the two olfactory receptor neurons in individual pheromone-sensitive sensilla on the antennae of male cabbage looper moths (Trichoplusia ni) was monitored extracellularly. Responses to single and multiple component stimuli containing up to three of the seven behaviorally active compounds for this species were obtained at several different stimulus intensities.

  2. 2.

    Neurons which produced large amplitude action potentials (A neurons) were more responsive to (Z)7-dodecenyl acetate, a major component of the female pheromone gland, than were their companion B receptor neurons. B receptor neurons were more responsive to (Z)7-dodecenol, a behavioral inhibitor of male orientation to calling females. Neither neuron was particularly responsive to stimuli containing only dodecyl acetate, a minor component of female glands, which has powerful synergistic effects on male behavior.

  3. 3.

    Some blends of these three compounds elicited responses which were not readily predicted from a knowledge of the cells' responses to individual components of the blend.

  4. 4.

    The average A receptor neuron was significantly more responsive to the blend containing (Z)7-dodecenyl acetate and 10% dodecyl acetate than it was to either component alone or, for that matter, to the algebraic sum of their individual responses. These enhancements were intensity-dependent, occurring to a significant extent only in the middle portion of a neuron's dose-response function. Although A recpetor neurons are not particularly responsive to either (Z)7-dodecenol or dodecyl acetate, a binary mixture of these components elicited significantly smaller responses than expected. Blends which contained all three compounds elicited responses in A receptor neurons which were also significantly smaller than those expected. These reductions were dose-dependent and occurred most reliably at the middle of the dose-response function.

  5. 5.

    The responses of B receptor neurons to blends were more variable than those obtained simultaneously in A receptor neurons. Although all of the various alterations in discharge magnitude observed in the typical A receptor neuron response to blend stimulation were seen in some fraction of the B receptor neurons sampled, only the trinary blend elicited responses which were significantly different from those expected. These reductions in the response of B receptor neurons were also intensity-dependent because they were more reliably observed in the middle portion of the neurons' dose-response function.

  6. 6.

    The sensory processing of complex chemical signals by the insect olfactory system has been postulated to involve a set of narrowly tuned, highly specific olfactory receptor neurons, one for each of the behaviorally relevant component compounds in the pheromone blend. Here we show that olfactory receptor neurons may also be responsive in unique ways to multiple component stimuli even in cases where an individual behaviorally relevant pheromone component is not processed by a separate class of receptor neuron.

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Abbreviations

CL :

cabbage looper

DEET :

N,N-diethyl-m-to-luamide

HS :

high spontaneous activity

Z7-12:AC :

(Z)7-dodecenyl acetate

Z7-12: OH :

(Z)7-dodecenol

12:AC :

dodecyl acetate

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  1. The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, 01545, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, USA

    Robert J. O'Connell

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O'Connell, R.J. Responses to pheromone blends in insect olfactory receptor neurons. J. Comp. Physiol. 156, 747–761 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00610828

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