The regulation of insect cardiac activity and a Frank-Starling-like mechanism
-
1
University of Toronto Mississauga, Department of Biology, Canada
-
2
University of Toronto Mississauga, Department of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Canada
Vertebrate and invertebrate cardiovascular systems are under myogenic and neural control through the action of neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and neurohormones. The excitatory neuropeptide, crustacean cardioactive peptide (CCAP), first isolated from the pericardial organs of the shore crab, Carcinus maenas, is present in the innervation to the heart in many insects, and can be released from neurohemal sites in arthropods.
CCAP triggers an increase in heart rate in the Vietnamese stick insect Baculum extradentatum, leading to an increase in cardiac output. However, in the African migratory locust, Locusta migratoria, CCAP significantly increases stroke volume and cardiac output without modifying heart rate or aortic contraction frequency. In the locust, CCAP increases the volume of hemolymph in the dorsal vessel by the synchronous closing of the excurrent ostia (small openings or valves that allow hemolymph to exit the dorsal vessel directly into the perivisceral sinus), resulting in more forceful heart contractions and increased stroke volume and cardiac output. This is achieved without modifying heart rate through a physiological mechanism analogous to the Frank–Starling mechanism in the vertebrates. The absence of CCAP-like immunoreactive staining on the segmental vessels (short tubes that connect the excurrent ostia to the dorsal vessel) and excurent ostia in L. migratoria indicates that CCAP may be acting as a neurohormonal regulator of cardiac activity. Therefore, CCAP differentially alters the contractile activity of the cardiac tissue in both B. extradentatum and L. migratoria, with each mechanism allowing for circulatory changes in hemolymph flow throughout the insect.
This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Keywords:
crustacean cardioactive peptide,
dorsal vessel,
excurrent ostia,
Frank-Starling mechanism,
Heart Rate,
insect,
Locusta migratoria,
Stroke Volume
Conference:
NASCE 2011: The inaugural meeting of the North American Society for Comparative Endocrinology, Ann Arbor, United States, 13 Jul - 16 Jul, 2011.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
General neuroendocrinology
Citation:
Da Silva
R,
Da Silva
SR and
Lange
AB
(2011). The regulation of insect cardiac activity and a Frank-Starling-like mechanism.
Front. Endocrinol.
Conference Abstract:
NASCE 2011: The inaugural meeting of the North American Society for Comparative Endocrinology.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fendo.2011.04.00121
Copyright:
The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers.
They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters.
The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated.
Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed.
For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions.
Received:
22 Jul 2011;
Published Online:
09 Aug 2011.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Rosa Da Silva, University of Toronto Mississauga, Department of Biology, Mississauga, Ontario, L5L1C6, Canada, rose.dasilva@utoronto.ca