The NMDA receptor antagonist MK-801 inhibits vitellogenesis in the flesh fly Neobellieria bullata and in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria.
We found that in the flesh fly Neobellieria bullata, vitellogenesis can be inhibited in a dose-dependent way by two injections of 60 microg MK-801/g body mass. In the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria, vitellogenesis can also be fully inhibited but only by repeated injections of 200-400 microg/g body mass. In this species, the inhibition can be overruled by coapplication of juvenile hormone. Vitellogenin bands remained visible in electropherograms of hemolymph of MK-801-treated female locusts, but vitellogenin did not accumulate as might be expected when only its uptake by the oocytes, and not its synthesis by the fat body, would be affected. Whether MK-801 acts by inhibiting juvenile hormone synthesis by the corpora allata remains to be investigated.
Begum
Murshida
M
Zoological Institute, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Naamsestraat 59, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
Breuer
Michael
M
Kodrik
Dalibor
D
M Rahman
Mazibur
M
De Loof
Arnold
A
D000818:Animals; D004175:Diptera / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D006110:Grasshoppers / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D006458:Hemolymph / Q000378:metabolism; D007605:Juvenile Hormones / Q000378:metabolism; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors*; D014818:Vitellogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*
D007605:Juvenile Hormones; D016194:Receptors, N-Methyl-D-Aspartate; D016291:Dizocilpine Maleate