Sex-related differences in the concentration of Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in the nervous system of an insect, Schistocerca gregaria, revealed by radioimmunoassay.
A radioimmunoassay has been used to measure Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity in tissue from male and female locusts, Schistocerca gregaria. The pattern of distribution within the two sexes was similar with about equal amounts present in the suboesophageal and 3 thoracic ganglia and a lower concentration in the cerebral ganglion. Female nervous tissue contained more than twice the amount of Met-enkephalin-like immunoreactivity than did that of males. No consistent immunoreactivity could be detected in the abdominal ganglia or non-neural tissues. The results are discussed in relation to recent evidence that peptides related or identical to enkephalins are present in invertebrates as well as higher organisms.
D000818:Animals; D049872:Bivalvia; D003058:Cockroaches; D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine / Q000032:analysis*; D005260:Female; D005724:Ganglia / Q000032:analysis; D006110:Grasshoppers / Q000032:analysis*; D008297:Male; D009420:Nervous System / Q000032:analysis*; D011863:Radioimmunoassay; D012737:Sex Factors
D004744:Enkephalin, Methionine