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J Neurophysiol 81: 788-794, 1999;
0022-3077/99 $5.00
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The Journal of Neurophysiology Vol. 81 No. 2 February 1999, pp. 788-794
Copyright ©1999 by the American Physiological Society

Depression of Synaptic Efficacy in High- and Low-Output Drosophila Neuromuscular Junctions by the Molting Hormone (20-HE)

Marvin E. Ruffner, Stuart I. Cromarty, and Robin L. Cooper

Thomas Hunt Morgan School of Biological Sciences, Nerve-Muscle Group, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0225

Depression of synaptic efficacy in high- and low-output Drosophila neuromuscular junctions by the molting hormone (20-HE). The molt-related steroid hormone, 20-hydroxyecdysone (20-HE), was applied to muscles 6 and 7 of third instar larval of Drosophila melanogaster neuromuscular junction preparations to examine if rapid, nongenomic responses could be observed as was shown recently to occur in crustacean neuromuscular junctions. At a dose of 10 µM, the excitatory junction potentials were reduced in amplitude within minutes. To elucidate the site of action of the hormone, focal-macropatch recordings of synaptic currents were obtained over the neuromuscular junctions. The results showed that the high-output (Is) and the low-output (Ib) motor nerve terminals, which innervate muscles 6 and 7, released fewer synaptic vesicles for each stimulation while exposed to 20-HE. Because the size and shape of synaptic currents from spontaneous releases did not change, the effects of the 20-HE are presynaptic. The rapid effects of this hormone may account in part for the quiescent behavior associated with molts among insects and crustaceans.

0022-3077/99 $5.00 Copyright © 1999 The American Physiological Society



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[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


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