Ecdysteroid binding sites localized by autoradiography in the central nervous system of precommitment fifth-stadium Manduca sexta larvae

Peripheral regulation by ecdysteroids of olfactory responsiveness in male Egyptian cotton leaf worms, Spodoptera littoralis

Physiological and behavioral plasticity allows animals to adapt to changes in external (environmental) and internal (physiological) factors. In insects, the physiological state modulates adult behavior in response to different odorant stimuli. Hormones have the potential to play a major role in the plasticity of the olfactory responses. To explore if peripheral olfactory processing could be regulated by steroid hormones, we characterized the molecular, electrophysiological, and behavioral response to changes in endogenous hormone levels in adult male Spodoptera littoralis. The expression of the receptor complex (EcR/USP) was localized by in situ hybridization in the olfactory sensilla of antennae. Injections of 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) induced an ecdysteroid signaling pathway in antennae and increased expression of the nuclear receptors EcR, USP and E75. Diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) and CaM expression were also up-regulated by 20E. Taken together, these molecular, electrophysiological, and behavioral results suggest a hormonal regulation of the peripheral olfactory processing in S. littoralis.

Hormone-dependent expression of fasciclin II during ganglionic migration and fusion in the ventral nerve cord of the moth Manduca sexta

The ventral nerve cord of holometabolous insects is reorganized during metamorphosis. A prominent feature of this reorganization is the migration of subsets of thoracic and abdominal larval ganglia to form fused compound ganglia. Studies in the hawkmoth Manduca sexta revealed that pulses of the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) regulate ganglionic fusion, but little is known about the cellular mechanisms that make migration and fusion possible. To test the hypothesis that modulation of cell adhesion molecules is an essential component of ventral nerve cord reorganization, we used antibodies selective for either the transmembrane isoform of the cell adhesion receptor fasciclin II (TM-MFas II) or the glycosyl phosphatidylinositol-linked isoform (GPI-MFas II) to study cell adhesion during ganglionic migration and fusion. Our observations show that expression of TM-MFas II is regulated temporally and spatially. GPI-MFas II was expressed on the surface of the segmental ganglia and the transverse nerve, but no evidence was obtained for regulation of GPI-MFas II expression during metamorphosis of the ventral nerve cord. Manipulation of 20E titers revealed that TM-MFas II expression on neurons in migrating ganglia is regulated by hormonal events previously shown to choreograph ganglionic migration and fusion. Injections of actinomycin D (an RNA synthesis inhibitor) or cycloheximide (a protein synthesis inhibitor) blocked ganglionic movement and the concomitant increase in TM-MFas II, suggesting that 20E regulates transcription of TM-MFas II. The few neurons that showed TM-MFas II immunoreactivity independent of endocrine milieu were immunoreactive to an antiserum specific for eclosion hormone (EH), a neuropeptide regulator of molting.

Steroid hormone activation of wandering in the isolated nervous system of Manduca sexta

Steroid hormones modulate motor circuits in both vertebrates and invertebrates. The insect Manduca sexta, with its well-characterized developmental and endocrinological history, is a useful model system in which to study these effects. Wandering is a stage-specific locomotor behavior triggered by the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E), consisting of crawling and burrowing movements as the animal searches for a pupation site. This study was undertaken to determine whether the wandering motor pattern is activated by direct action of 20E on the CNS. 20E acts on the isolated larval nervous system to induce a fictive motor pattern showing features of crawling and burrowing. The latency of the response to 20E is long, suggestive of a genomic mechanism of action. The abdominal motoneurons or segmental pattern generating circuits are unlikely to be the primary targets of 20E action in inducing fictive wandering. Exposure of the segmental ganglia alone to hormone did not evoke fictive wandering. Therefore, as suggested by an earlier study, the likely site of 20E action is within the brain.

Non-genomic ecdysone effects and the invertebrate nuclear steroid hormone receptor EcR--new role for an "old" receptor?

The ecdysteroids (Ec), invertebrate steroid hormones, elicit genomic but also non-genomic effects. By analogy to vertebrates, non-genomic responses towards Ec may be mediated not only by distinct membrane-integrated but also by membrane-associated receptors like the classical nuclear ecdysteroid receptor (EcR) of arthropods. This is supported by a comparison of physiological properties between invertebrate and vertebrate steroid hormone systems and recent findings on the subcellular localization of EcR. The measured or predicted high degree of conformational flexibility of both Ec and the ligand binding domain (LBD) of EcR give rise to a conformational compatibility model: the compatibility between conformations of the cognate receptor's ligand binding domain and structures or conformations of the ligand would determine their interaction and eventually the initiation of genomic versus non-genomic pathways. This model could also explain why specific non-genomic effects are generally not observed with non-steroidal agonists of the bisacylhydrazine group.

Developmental changes in the presence of ecdysteroid receptors in the central nervous system of third instar larvae of Sarcophaga bullata

Radiolabeled ponasterone A, a high affinity ligand for ecdysteroid receptors which agonises the effects of 20-hydroxyecdysone, was used in combination with thaw-mount autoradiography to study the stage-specific presence of ecdysteroid receptors in the central nervous system of Sarcophaga bullata. In third instar larvae, nuclear high affinity binding of tritiated or iodinated ponasterone A occurs in the same target cells and both radioligands were displaced by an 100-fold excess of unlabeled ponasterone A or an 500-fold excess of 20-hydroxyecdysone. Target neurons for ponasterone A appear first in the third instar larvae on day 4.0 (early wandering stage) where many cells of the perineurium, ring gland, lateral neurosecretory cells in the brain and certain neurons in abdominal ganglia exhibit nuclear high-affinity binding for ponasterone A. At day 5.5 after larviposition, less binding is present in the perineurium but many neurons, including certain neurosecretory cells in the pars intercerebralis, pars lateralis, tritocerebrum, and neurosecretory cell groups 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the dipteran suboesophageal and abdominal ganglia show increased nuclear ecdysteroid binding. At this stage nuclear binding also occurs in the ring gland except in the central corpus allatum and for the first time in the neurons of the inner optic lobes. The results show that ecdysteroid receptors are present in distinct cerebral neurons and that their expression or ecdysteroid-binding capability is under developmental control.

Uptake, distribution and binding of vertebrate and invertebrate steroid hormones and time-dependence of ponasterone A binding in Calliphora vicina. Comparisons among cholesterol, corticosterone, cortisol, dexamethasone, 5 alpha-dihydrotestosterone, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, ecdysone, estradiol-17 beta, ponasterone A, progesterone, and testosterone

The presence of specific binding sites for radiolabelled vertebrate-type and arthropod-type steroid hormones was investigated in several organs including salivary gland, and central nervous system of third instar Calliphora vicina larvae by thaw-mount autoradiography. Ponasterone A, a 20-hydroxyecdysone agonist and 20-hydroxyecdysone are the only steroids which bind to nuclear high affinity binding sites. These binding sites are DNA associated while nucleoli show no tracer binding. Ecdysone, an endogenous 20-hydroxyecdysone precursor, is taken up by target cells but no significant nuclear binding occurs. 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 concentrates in cytoplasm only and its uptake is highest compared to all other steroids. Progesterone and testosterone show weak accumulation in the cytoplasm, while for cholesterol, corticosterone, cortisol, dexamethasone, dihydrotestosterone and estradiol-17 beta, no noticeable uptake occurs. For ponasterone A, a clear time dependence of uptake and intracellular distribution is visible, suggesting the existence and involvement of specific ecdysteroid uptake and transport mechanisms. These results suggest the presence of binding sites for various mammalian steroids in insects. Whether vertebrate steroid hormones or metabolites of them play a role in insects or whether the uptake and binding is based on chemical similarities alone without biological significance remains to be further investigated.

Ecdysteroid receptors in the central nervous system of Manduca sexta: their changes in distribution and quantity during larval-pupal development

Ecdysteroids act initially by binding to nuclear and possibly also extranuclear receptors. The presence and expression of these receptors in the insect brain was investigated in the present study as a means of defining these neurons involved in ecdysteroid-regulated processes at different developmental stages. Early in the fifth larval stadium of Manduca sexta, when endogenous ecdysteroid levels are low, receptors for ecdysteroids in cerebral neurons are either absent or present at low levels. Receptors can be reliably detected only on day 0 and are not found again until day 3.5, at the beginning of the commitment peak in the ecdysteroid titer, when they occur in a small stage-specific population of cells. At this time, ecdysteroid receptors are found mainly in nuclei but are also observed at low levels in cytoplasm. By day 4.8, ecdysteroid receptors are exclusively nuclear, and the number of target cells has increased dramatically in several brain regions, including those with known neurosecretory cell groups. This population and organization of ecdysteroid target cells is constant up to day 6, after which time the number of target neurons declines. By day 7.8, only 10% of the number of labelled neurons seen on days 4.8-6.8 remain in peripheral areas. In the pupal brains, ecdysteroid receptors reappear in a new population of neurons. The results indicate changes in the genomic regulation of a varying neuron population by ecdysteroids during fifth stadium development.