Figure 3 - uploaded by Mark Stopfer
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Manduca Dissection Procedure. (A) The labial palps removed, the head capsule is opened by making four cuts as indicated by the dotted line. (B) A magnified image of the brain after opening the head capsule and removing fat tissue and trachea, allowing visualization of the maxillary nerves (MxNs) and the sub-esophageal zone (SEZ, a term referring to the area of the brain under the esophagus). The maxillary nerves carry axons from gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) in the proboscis to the SEZ. (C) A schematic of a Manduca brain. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
Source publication
The sense of taste allows animals to detect chemicals in the environment, giving rise to behaviors critical for survival. When Gustatory Receptor Neurons (GRNs) detect tastant molecules, they encode information about the identity and concentration of the tastant as patterns of electrical activity that then propagate to follower neurons in the brain...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... the dissection microscope, use micro-dissection scissors to cut off the labial palps. 12. Use micro-dissection scissors or a mini-axe to open the ventral side of the head capsule by making four cuts: two cuts along the cuticle that surrounds each eye from back to front, one cut on the cuticle along the back of the head, and one cut on the cuticle along the front of the head near the proboscis (Figure 3A). 13. ...
Context 2
... This may be the most critical part of the dissection; it is easy to inadvertently damage the maxillary nerve by tugging on or crushing it. Note: At this point the SEZ and the maxillary nerves should be clearly visible (Figure 3B-3C). However, the brain and the maxillary nerves are covered by a thin sheath. ...
Citations
... One researcher succeeded to perform patch-clamp recordings from blobs that occur on dendrites of taste neurons (Murakami and Kijima, 2000). On large insects, such as Manduca sexta adults, is seems also possible to record from the maxillary nerve using tetrodes (Reiter et al., 2015, Boronat-Garcia et al., 2017. ...
