Electrical coupling and gap junctions between neurosecretory cells in an insect.
Intracellular injections of Lucifer yellow into single neurosecretory cells in the posterior (glandular) lobe of the corpus cardiacum of locusts resulted in dye transfer between these cells. Passage of hyperpolarizing or depolarizing current into one cell resulted in changes in the membrane potential of other cells. Freeze-fracture replicas of these cells revealed gap junctions which probably mediate the electrical and dye coupling. It seems apparent from these data that coupling may synchronize the neurosecretory cells' activity.
D005614:Freeze Fracturing; D006110:Grasshoppers / Q000502:physiology*; D007365:Intercellular Junctions / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D008297:Male; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D009490:Neurosecretory Systems / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D009435:Synaptic Transmission