Can the cricket (Teleogryllus commodus) salivary gland act as an alternative endocrine delivery system?

Sunday, November 10, 2013: 4:51 PM
Meeting Room 19 B (Austin Convention Center)
Paul Cooper , Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
The digestive system is regulated by various amines and peptides that may be secreted into the haemolymph.  As the circulation from the head is normally backwards through the abdomen, the directional delivery of any compounds from the head into the thorax would be slow.  I examined the head of the cricket using fine dissection, histology and 3-d micro-computer tomography to describe the structure of the salivary glands.  The black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus Walker) has a set of salivary glands that are present on either side of the retrocerebral gland (corpora cardiaca, corpora allata, hypocerebral ganglion) that could act as a delivery system to the thorax as the duct leading from the gland goes into the thorax where it connects with the main salivary duct.  Any compounds secreted from the gland could be released directly within the thorax.  I propose this as an alternative endocrine transport route.
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