昆虫触角叶的结构

The structure of the antennal lobe in insects

触角叶是昆虫脑内初级嗅觉中心,通过触角神经与触角联系。触角叶主要由嗅觉受体神经元、局域中间神经元、投射神经元和远心神经元构成。这些神经元的形态多样,其形态变化与其功能和昆虫嗅觉行为相关。这些神经元在触角叶内交织形成神经纤维网,在突触联系紧密的地方形成纤维球,纤维球通常排列在触角叶外周。通常,昆虫触角叶内纤维球的数量、大小和位置相对固定,并且几乎每个小球都可以被识别和命名。不同种类、性别和品级的昆虫中,纤维球的数量、大小和排列方式各不相同。触角叶结构神经元组成和纤维球的多样性,与各种昆虫嗅觉行为的特异性相对应。

The paired antennal lobe is the primary olfactory center of insect brain, linked by antennal nerves to the antennae. The antennal lobe is mainly composed of olfactory receptor neurons, local interneurons, projection neurons and centrifugal morphologically categorized into several types. The neurons. Each of these categories of neurons is types associate with their functions and show species- specificity. The antennal lobe neurons are organized into neuropil with a large number of glomeruli, which house dense synaptic contacts and are arranged in one or two layers at the periphery of the AL. In a given antennal lobe, the number, size and position of glomeruli are constant and almost each glomerulus can be identified and named. However, the number, size and position of glomeruli show species-, sex- and caste-specificity. Such organization of the antennal lobe is associated with species-, sex- and caste-specific olfactory behavior of insects.