« Previous AbstractPheromone-sensitive glomeruli in the primary olfactory centre of ants    Next AbstractSuppression of fruit-body formation by constitutively active G-protein alpha-subunits ScGP-A and ScGP-C in the homobasidiomycete Schizophyllum commune »

Proc Biol Sci

Title:		Spatial representation of alarm pheromone information in a secondary olfactory centre in the ant brain
Author(s):		Yamagata N; Mizunami M;
Address:		"Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Katahira 2-1-1, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8577, Japan"
Journal Title:		Proc Biol Sci
Year:		2010
Volume:		20100407
Issue:		1693
Page Number:		2465 - 2474
DOI:		10.1098/rspb.2010.0366
ISSN/ISBN:		1471-2954 (Electronic) 0962-8452 (Print) 0962-8452 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Pheromones play major roles in intraspecific communication in many animals. Elaborated communication systems in eusocial insects provide excellent materials to study neural mechanisms for social pheromone processing. We previously reported that alarm pheromone information is processed in a specific cluster of glomeruli in the antennal lobe of the ant Camponotus obscuripes. However, representation of alarm pheromone information in a secondary olfactory centre is unknown in any animal. Olfactory information in the antennal lobe is transmitted to secondary olfactory centres, including the lateral horn, by projection neurons (PNs). In this study, we compared distributions of terminal boutons of alarm pheromone-sensitive and -insensitive PNs in the lateral horn of ants. Distributions of their dendrites largely overlapped, but there was a region where boutons of pheromone-sensitive PNs, but not those of pheromone-insensitive PNs, were significantly denser than in the rest of the lateral horn. Moreover, most of a major type of pheromone-sensitive efferent neurons from the lateral horn extended dendritic branches in this region, suggesting specialization of this region for alarm pheromone processing. This study is the first study to demonstrate the presence of specialized areas for the processing of a non-sexual, social pheromone in the secondary olfactory centre in any animal"
Keywords:		"*Animal Communication Animals Ants/cytology/*physiology Brain/*physiology Dendrites/physiology Imaging, Three-Dimensional Pheromones/*physiology Presynaptic Terminals/physiology Smell/*physiology;Animals;"
Notes:		"MedlineYamagata, Nobuhiro Mizunami, Makoto eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2010/04/09 Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Aug 22; 277(1693):2465-74. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.0366. Epub 2010 Apr 7"