Neural Organization of the Circadian System of the Cockroach Leucophaea maderae

Abstract

The cockroach Leucophaea maderae was the first animal in which lesion experiments localized an endogenous circadian clock to a particular brain area, the optic lobe. The neural organization of the circadian system, however, including entrainment pathways, coupling elements of the bilaterally distributed internal clock, and output pathways controlling circadian locomotor rhythms are only recently beginning to be elucidated. As in flies and other insect species, pigment‐dispersing hormone (PDH)‐immunoreac‐ tive neurons of the accessory medulla of the cockroach are crucial elements of the circadian system. Lesions and transplantation experiments showed that the endogeneous circadian clock of the brain resides in neurons associated with the accessory medulla. The accessory medulla is organized into a nodular core receiving photic input, and into internodular and peripheral neuropil involved in efferent output and coupling input. Photic entrainment of the clock through compound eye photoreceptors appears to occur via parallel, indirect pathways through the medulla. Light‐like phase shifts in circadian locomotor activity after injections of γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA)‐ or Mas‐allatotropin into the vicinity of the accessory medulla suggest that both substances are involved in photic entrainment. Extraocular, cryptochrome‐based photoreceptors appear to be present in the optic lobe, but their role in photic entrainment has not been examined. Pigment‐dispersing hormone‐immunoreactive neurons provide efferent output from the accessory medulla to several brain areas and to the peripheral visual system. Pigment‐dispersing hormone‐immunoreactive neurons, and additional heterolateral neurons are, furthermore, involved in bilateral coupling of the two pacemakers. The neuronal organization, as well as the prominent involvement of GABA and neuropeptides, shows striking similarities to the organization of the suprachiasmatic nucleus, the circadian clock of the mammalian brain.

• Insect brain
• Circadian clock
• Pigment‐dispersing hormone
• Light entrainment
• Accessory medulla
• Cockroach
• Leucophaea maderae