The effect of removal of the frontal ganglion on growth and protein synthesis in young adults of Locusta migratoria

Abstract

Removal of the Frontal ganglion in young adult locusts results in growth arrest, disruption of food passage in the gut, reduced faecal out put, and a high mortality. The effects of the operation in young adults differ in degree from those observed in larvae.An in vitro incubation technique was used to make a quantitative estimate of protein synthesis in the fat body after frontal ganglion removal and starvation. A significant reduction of protein synthesis after frontal ganglion removal was observed.The results are discussed in relation to the role of the stomatogastric nervous system in controlling food passage in the gut and the release of neurohormone from the corpora cardiaca.