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Dye fills reveal additional olfactory tracts in the protocerebrum of wild‐type Drosophila
Author(s) -
Tanaka Nobuaki K.,
Suzuki Emiko,
Dye Louis,
Ejima Aki,
Stopfer Mark
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
journal of comparative neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.855
H-Index - 209
eISSN - 1096-9861
pISSN - 0021-9967
DOI - 10.1002/cne.23149
Subject(s) - mushroom bodies , biology , neuroscience , sensory system , antennal lobe , olfactory system , drosophila (subgenus) , anatomy , drosophila melanogaster , gene , genetics
The antennal lobe (AL) is the primary olfactory center in insect brains. It receives sensory input from the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) and sends, through its projection neurons (PNs), reformatted output to secondary olfactory centers, including the mushroom body (MB) calyx and the lateral horn (LH) in the protocerebrum. By injecting dye into the AL of wild‐type Drosophila , we identified previously unknown direct pathways between the AL and the ventrolateral, superior medial, and posterior lateral protocerebra. We found that most of these areas in the protocerebrum are connected with the AL through multiple tracts, suggesting that these areas are sites of convergence for olfactory information. Furthermore, areas such as the superior medial protocerebrum now appear to receive olfactory output both directly from the AL and indirectly from lobes of the MB and the LH, suggesting a degree of functional interaction among these areas. We also analyzed the length and number of fibers in each tract. We compare our results obtained from wild‐type flies with recent results from transgenic strains and discuss how information about odorants is distributed to multiple protocerebral areas. J. Comp. Neurol. 520:4131–4140, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.